Bloontonium Reactor (BTDB2)

BTD5

BTD6

BTDB2

“	Submerge to detect camo, pop bloons and reduce ability cooldowns of nearby water-based Monkeys by 15%.	”
	~ BTDB2 description

4-2-0 Reactor radioactive pulse

Bloontonium Reactor is the 4th upgrade of the Monkey Sub in Bloons TD Battles 2. It is similar to its BTD6 counterpart except that its damage type is changed from Shatter to Sharp , the upgrade is more expensive, and it has lower pierce. While submerged, it attacks every 0.4s, 0.3s with 4-0-1 and 0.2s with 4-0-2. It requires Heat-Tipped Darts to pop lead and frozen bloons. Its radioactive attack has 30 pierce, increased to 35 and 50 with Path 2 crosspaths. The decamo pulses have 150 pierce, increased to 180 and 225 with respective Path 2 crosspaths. As a bonus, the Bloontonium Reactor reduces water tower ability cooldowns by 15% if they are within its radius.

It costs $2,800, and is unlocked with purchase of Monkey Sub.

Strategy

Summary

Bloontonium Reactor has very reliable camo detection and comes with a decent rate of grouped popping. Its pierce is not as much as it does in BTD6, but its pierce is enough to destroy bloons weaker than unboosted Grouped Zebras. Also, the extra ability cooldowns to water towers is helpful for waterborne Pat Fusty for more uptime to his Rallying Roar.

Tips

• When submerged its sonar radius is actually bigger than its range which can allow it to have a lot more track coverage on maps like Oasis.
• Crosspathing plays a role for its offensive radioactive attack. 4-2-0 is usually preferred in this game for the greater pierce, although 4-0-2 helps clean up bloons better.
  • If a reliable lead-popping tower such as Cluster Bombs is present, 4-0-2 is preferred, as the lead-popping won't be so necessary and the 4-0-2 helps clean up Ceramics more reliably.
  • Reactor is a bad candidate for Acidic Mixture Dip, as it consumes AMD buffs too quickly to sustain enough with a single Alchemist, and only wears out even faster with 4-0-2 Reactor.

Version History

Bloontonium Reactor is a popular choice for both decent group-popping and reliable decamo, which is part of what appeals the Monkey Sub. Particular loadouts that rely on Bloontonium Reactor include Druid-Sub-Farm, and Bomb-Sub-Farm.

The Reactor, while nerfed significantly throughout history, remains quite effective at stopping moderate-sized rushes in combination with a fairly cheap defense, requiring a giant swarm of bloons to actually overrun it.

Initial release (compared to BTD6 during Version 28.0)

• Bloontonium Reactor damage type changed from Normal to Sharp unless given Heat-Tipped Darts
• Bloontonium Reactor costs more ($2500 → $2800)
• Bloontonium Reactor base attack cooldown increased (0.3s -> 0.4s)
• Bloontonium Reactor base pierce reduced (50 → 30). Also applies to crosspaths with Path 2.
  • 4-1-0: 70 → 50
  • 4-2-0: 100 → 80
• [Likely a bug] Bloontonium Reactor deals increased damage to ceramics (+0 → +3)

1.0.4

• Reactor pierce decreased (30 → 26)
• 4-1-0 Reactor pierce decreased (50 → 35)
• 4-2-0 Reactor pierce decreased (80 → 50)
• [bug fix] Removed unintended bonus damage to Ceramics

1.5.0

• Bloontonium Reactor price decreased $2800 → $2600
  • Total price change is actually $0 due to +$200 with Submerge and Support
• No longer requires 11,000 XP to unlock. Players who have unlocked this upgrade before the update will not receive a full refund.

2.1.2

• 4-0-x reactor pierce 26 -> 30 (410 remains at 35 pierce)
• 401 pulse rate 0.32 -> 0.3 (xx1 reduces by 20->25%)
• 402 pulse rate 0.224 -> 0.2 (xx2 reduces by 30 -> 33.3%)

“	For a long time now, x2x has undoubtedly been the optimal Reactor crosspath due to its lead popping power and greatly increased pierce. Ideally, we would like the xx2 crosspath to provide a valuable alternative option, if lead popping power is not required. To help with this, we have increased the base pierce while leaving the 410 Reactor pierce unchanged, and we have increased the attack speed boost that xx1 and xx2 provide.	”
	~ Ninja Kiwi

3.2.4

• 4-0-x Bloontonium Reactor sonar pierce reduced from infinite to 200
• 4-1-0 Bloontonium Reactor sonar pierce reduced from infinite to 240
• 4-2-0 Bloontonium Reactor sonar pierce reduced from infinite to 300

3.3

• • 4-0-0 Bloontonium Reactor decamo pierce reduced from 200 to 150
  • 4-1-0 Bloontonium Reactor decamo pierce reduced from 240 to 180
  • 4-2-0 Bloontonium Reactor decamo pierce reduced from 300 to 225
  • Bloontonium Reactor cost increased from $2600 to $2800

“	Sub still remains incredibly dominant. We previously lowered the decamo pierce and we do like the idea of making decamo options less reliable, but the change wasn’t significant enough and so we are lowering the pierce even further. With 3xx being less reliable now, this makes 4xx a more appealing option and so we have slightly bumped up its cost with that in mind. [...]	”
	~ Ninja Kiwi

Trivia

• The reactor's damage type nerf in BTDB2 makes its radiation one of the few Sharp-type attacks to not involve a sharp object, another example being Party God's Off the Hook shockwave ability in Bloons Adventure Time TD.
• Similarily to Energizer, any towers placed on top of ice platforms will receive the 15% ability cooldown buff that reactor provides.