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BTD6

Crossbow Master shoots really fast and devastates most Bloon types with ease.
~ In-game description

Crossbow Master is the fifth upgrade of Path 3 for the Dart Monkey in Bloons TD 6. It increases the Dart Monkey's base attack speed to every 0.16s (6.25 shots per second), critical hit every 5 shots instead of every 10 shots from Sharp Shooter, range from 60 increased to 80, and slightly increases projectile speed. It also increases the pierce of each shot to 8, +6 when upgraded with Sharp Shots and +7 on top of that with Razor Sharp Shots. Upgrading to Crossbow Master also allows the Dart Monkey to pop any bloon type, including Lead. Projectile speed increases from 400 to 450.

This upgrade costs $18,275 on Easy, $21,500 on Medium, $23,220 on Hard, and $25,800 on Impoppable.

Description[]

Overview[]

Xbm lots of damage

Crossbow Master triggering critical shots quickly

Upgrading to Crossbow Master changes the Sharp Shooter's crossbow design to a black-and-yellow high-tech design. The crossbower now wears a dark yellow visor with a full-black hood and several yellow pockets. It loses its purple wristbands and eyeband, but keeps its quiver from Sharp Shooter. Like most Tier 5 upgrades, its appearance is unaffected by crosspaths.

Alongside shooting arrows that deal 6 damage, the Crossbow Master's arrows fires arrows much faster, gains much more pierce, and apply critical hits at a much faster rate. More specifically, it attacks one shot every 0.16s (or 6.25 shots per second), pierces up to 8 bloons per shot, and crits will occur every 5 shots. Its range also improves to 80.

Crossbow Master will shoot a critical damage arrow once every 5 shots, and each critical damage arrow is denoted by an orange aura at the back of the arrow and the orange word "CRIT" (or language variant) above bloons struck by them.

Crossbow Master has a unique crosspathing interaction with Sharp Shots and Razor Sharp Shots: it receives +6 pierce from the former, and +7 pierce from the latter, for a total of 21 pierce for 2-0-5.

Targeting Priorities[]

Crossbow Master targets bloons using the standard targeting priorities. It shoots straight movement projectiles.

  • First: Targets the first bloon visible within its range.
  • Last: Targets the last bloon visible within its range.
  • Close: Targets the closest bloon visible within its range.
  • Strong: Targets the strongest bloon visible within its range.

Crossbow Master can access Camo Prioritization, allowing all its attacks to prioritize Camo Bloons over other types when this secondary targeting option is active.

Full Popology[]

Statistics[]

Updated as of Version 38.3
Base stats
  • Dart:
    • Projectile, normal type, camo detection, 80 range, 0.16s attack cooldown, 6 damage, 8 pierce, 450 projectile speed, 0.25875s lifespan, 2 projectile radius.
  • Crit:
    • Projectile, normal type, camo detection, 80 range, activates every 5th shot of Dart, 50 damage, 8 pierce, 450 projectile speed, 0.25875s lifespan, 2 projectile radius.
Crosspathing interactions
  • 1-0-5:
    • Dart pierce increased pierce increased from 8 to 14, compared to 0-0-5.
  • 2-0-5:
    • Dart pierce increased pierce increased from 14 to 21, compared to 1-0-5.
  • 0-1-5:
    • Dart attack cooldown reduced from 0.16s to 0.136s, compared to 0-0-5.
  • 0-2-5:
    • Dart attack cooldown reduced from 0.136s to 0.107s, compared to 0-1-5.
Monkey Knowledge interactions

Attack Interactions[]

See also: Attack Interactions/Bloons TD 6/Primary
Updated as of Version 38.1
Base attack(s)
  • Dart:
    • Normal Type (pops Black, White, Purple, Lead, Frozen) Normal
    • Also affects Camo Bloons Camo Detection
    • Single Projectile Single Projectile
    • Straight Attack Straight Attack
    • Extra damage to all bloons (6) Extra Damage (6)
  • Crit:
    • Normal Type (pops Black, White, Purple, Lead, Frozen) Normal
    • Also affects Camo Bloons Camo Detection
    • Single Projectile Single Projectile
    • Straight Attack Straight Attack
    • Extra damage to all bloons (50) Extra Damage (50)
    • Critical Hits (unspecified crit rate) Critical Hit
    • Per-Shot Basis (triggers every 5 shots) Per-Shot Basis (every 5 shots)

Costs[]

Updated as of Version 41.0. 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-X-5) $18,275 $21,500 $23,220 $25,800 -
Total (0-0-5) $20,920 $24,615 $26,580 $29,540 $14,644 $17,231 $18,606 $20,678
Crosspath (1-0-5) $21,040 $24,755 $26,730 $29,710 $14,728 $17,329 $18,711 $20,797
Crosspath (2-0-5) $21,225 $24,975 $26,965 $29,975 $14,858 $17,483 $18,876 $20,983
Crosspath (0-1-5) $21,005 $24,715 $26,690 $29,660 $14,704 $17,301 $18,683 $20,762
Crosspath (0-2-5) $21,165 $24,905 $26,895 $29,890 $14,816 $17,434 $18,827 $20,923

This upgrade's prices (or included crosspath's prices) are affected by the following MK: BonusMonkeyIcon Bonus Monkey!, ComeOnEverybodyIcon Come On Everybody!, BetterSellDealsIcon Better Sell Deals

Strategy[]

Summary[]

Crossbow Master is a well-rounded upgrade that gives the Dart Monkey a consistent amount of high DPS which was not present in previous games. The critical hits now activate much quicker on top of its much improved attack speed, allowing a few of these critical hits to easily wipe out various pre-Freeplay rounds, as well as hitting a decent number of Super Ceramics and shred weaker MOABs. Because of its relatively high pierce and high damage from its frequent critical hits, it is recommended to place the Crossbow Master along straight lines. As it excels against rounds prior to Round 80, the Crossbow Master is best utilized as a stable tower to build up more expensive upgrades on towers specializing in late-game defense. Beyond Round 80, however, its role simply becomes a general DPS tower rather than a mid-game excel.

Although the Crossbow Master does not necessarily require external buffs in order to perform well, it pairs very well with Overclock in order to increase its powerful consistent critical hit rate even more. Although it has only 66% uptime, adding an active Overclock will rapidly improve the Crossbow Master's overall performance by applying critical hits more often, especially versus Super Ceramics. Other useful support towers include Stronger Stimulant, for the increased attack speed to apply critical hits at a faster rate, and Primary Training, to make its projectiles move faster and therefore more accurate.

In addition to being a rather cost-effective Tier 5, the MasterDoubleCrossIcon Master Double Cross MK allows for two Crossbow Masters on the map at once, which adds an extra dimension overall power. With this one MK Point, this allows the option to place each Crossbow Master on different areas of the map for even more attack coverage, or they can be placed together in similar locations to produce even more bloon destructive power. In fact, this also makes it easier to get a higher-degree Apex Plasma Master, the Dart Monkey Paragon.

Tips[]

  • Unless the extra pierce is needed for densely packed bloons such as on Round 63, 76, or 78, 0-2-5 Crossbow Master is preferable over a 2-0-5 for the higher attack speed, resulting in a much higher DPS in general cases, and more consistent critical hits. However, 2-0-5 is more self-sufficient as a solo tower, especially without Monkey Knowledge.
    • Regardless of crosspathing choice, to make the most of Crossbow Master, place it such that it can shoot along straightaways.
  • On easier maps, a single Crossbow Master can solo up to Round 80. As a result, it is often used as an option to AFK early on for Hard Difficulty modes (or game modes that end on or before round 80) on these maps.
  • Even though it can pop lead bloons and therefore DDTs, it will have a hard time against them due to their high speed and health outpacing its DPS.
  • Crossbow Master is mostly a mid-game carry tower, as it is very good against the pre-super ceramic rounds but falls off past Round 80, as super ceramics are too strong outside of critical hits with full HP. For this reason, it is highly recommended to use Crossbow Master in gamemodes where the late game never comes, such as Odysseys or pre-81 Contested Territory tiles.
  • Although it provides minimal contribution for CHIMPS after round 80, especially on Expert Maps due to its low overall synergy with any buffs/debuffs, if opting to use the Crossbow Master, plan out cash savings to save up for a more powerful Tier 5 that can scale well in the late game, such as Sky Shredder, Tsar Bomba, or Bloon Exclusion Zone.
  • Total single-target DPS from a Crossbow Master is quite consistent after the Version 33.0 reworks to crit shots, occurring every 0.8s by default, resulting in a single-target DPS of 92.5 without the middle crosspath or external speed buffs. The lost pierce with middle crosspath is noticeable, though.
  • MasterDoubleCrossIcon Master Double Cross gives the Crossbow Master another use case in boss events, where the second Crossbow Master helps fulfill an extra T5 and a boost in cash sacrifices to boost the Apex Plasma Master to degree 22 at minimum.
  • Due to Version 36.0 price buffs, with almost full MK, a 0-2-5 Crossbow Master is affordable on Deflation. This requires BonusMonkeyIcon Bonus Monkey! and ComeOnEverybodyIcon Come On Everybody! in order to make it possible.
    • Because of its relatively high DPS and ability to pop all types of bloons, unlike other tier 5 upgrades purchasable in deflation, it has become a really popular tower to solo Deflation, as along as Crossbow Master covers a signficant portion of the track that is. On some maps, it can get to round 90 or lower by itself.

Achievements[]

GoldContainer
NotLackingCriticalInformation
Not Lacking Critical Information
FIRST RELEASED: Version 29.0
Description: Get 25,000 Critical hits
Rewards:
004-DartMonkeyInsta
0-0-4
030-SuperMonkeyInsta
0-3-0

Version History[]

Balance Changes[]

Crossbow Master is currently a lot stronger than it was when it first released. Note that the crosspathing rework in Version 18.0 is considered an overall buff, because it already had a large amount of pierce anyway, and the attack speed buff allows it to activate crits more often.

7.0
  • BUFF Crossbow Master's price was reduced from $27,000 to $25,000.
8.0
  • BUFF Crossbow Master's crit rate increased from every 8-12 shots to every 6-10 shots.
12.0
  • BUFF Crossbow Master attack speed bonus increased from 3x to 4x
  • BUFF Crossbow Master crit rate increased from every 6-10 shots to every 4-8 shots
18.0
  • BUFF Crossbow Master's base attack speed increased by roughly 50% (0.2375s → 0.16s)
  • NERF Crossbow Master's base pierce reduced from 23 to 10
  • BUFF 105 and 205 pierce bonus increased to +6 and +7, up from +1 and +2
    • While the pierce bonus is a buff, the 205 pierce total was nerfed from the previous 24 and 26 respectively to 16 and 23.
  • Ninja Kiwi reworked the Crossbow Master in Version 18.0 in order to let the top crosspath have a fairer usage over the far more favorable middle crosspath.
20.0
  • Note: Crossbow Master remained at 450 projectile speed despite its predecessors receiving projectile speed buffs.
28.0
Instead of saying the same thing each time; many specific crosspaths that add a 'camo specialty' to a tower end up being viewed as rather inferior crosspaths due to camo being quite available to pick up through other methods. To give these upgrades more use even with other forms of camo reveal in play, we have added a brand new Camo Prioritization option that is added to the towers when taking this crosspath. When enabled this filter combines the selected target method with Camo Prioritization (e.g. Strong Camo would work through all Camos in strength order, then revert to normal Strong until any new Camos show up). Individual Monkeys are called out below.
~ Ninja Kiwi, referring to "Camo Prioritization" target option
  • BUFF Affected by Enhanced Eyesight adding a Camo Prioritization filter.
30.0
[...] Crossbow Master is pretty much around the entry level T5 that we want, but a little too expensive for something that brings no extra utility.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF Crossbow Master price decreased ($25,000 → $23,500)
31.0
  • BUFF Affected by Enhanced Eyesight projectile lifespan buff
33.0
As Sharpshooter’s crit occurrence didn’t feel frequent enough the overall attack rate has been increased also just to lead better into the T5’s already high rate of fire. Along with this all Crossbow criticals have been standardized, overall with T5 criticals occurring more frequently in exchange for a slight reduction in base pierce to improve Sharp Shot crosspath value. [...]
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • NERF Crossbow Master pierce reduced (10 → 8)
  • BUFF Crossbow Master crit rate changed from 4-8 shots to every 5th
    • Note: This is an overall buff to crit rate, as it gains about 25% more DPS with consistent shots.
36.0
Current Sharp Shooter niches appear to struggle with some tight placement due to their high range opening up a ranged niche but being extremely tight on that range, given this is actually 'the range path' it feels fair to help this with a little further increased range.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF Crossbow Master range increased 76 → 80
  • BUFF Crossbow Master price reduced $23,500 → $21,500

Bug Fixes and General Changes[]

3.0
  • Master Double Cross (a Monkey Knowledge that allows you to have two Crossbow Masters at once) now works more consistently.
12.1
  • BUFF Crossbow Master's base attack damage (correctly) increased (5 → 6)
    • This was the result of a 12.0 Sharp Shooter buff not being inherited by Crossbow Master until this bug fix.
20.0
  • NERF Master Double Cross no longer allows you to use 1 Crossbow Master in Daily Challenges where this tower is prohibited.
    • Before the bug got fixed in Version 20.0, challenges that banned Crossbow Master but not Sharp Shooter allowed the player to purchase exactly one Crossbow Master if they have the "Master Double Cross" MK. This was revealed since Version 17.0, starting from that update when Challenge Editor added the option to allow challenges to restrict specific upgrades of any tower.

Extra Notes (Version History)[]

  • Before the 4.0 update, the Crossbow Master increased the layers popped by one. This upgrade was granted as a buff to the Sharp Shooter instead, keeping the basic power at 5 layers per shot.
    • In Version 12.0, Sharp Shooter gained yet another +1 damage buff, but Crossbow Master formerly did not gain the +1 damage buff alongside Sharp Shooter, though Crossbow Master had gained a series of other damage buffs to compensate. However, this damage decrease discrepancy was since corrected for the Crossbow Master as of Version 12.1.
  • Although Sharp Shooter received balance changes in Version 23.0, this did not affect Crossbow Master at all.
  • Every time the Crossbow Master's "crit frequency" was buffed, Ninja Kiwi would list these buffs in terms of the Crossbow Master's average numbers of crits per second assuming constant attack speed.
    • Version 8.0's "crit frequency" was mentioned to be buffed from 10 to 8.
    • Version 12.0's "crit frequency" was mentioned to be buffed from 8 to 6.

Gallery[]

Official artwork[]

Projectiles[]

Other languages[]

Language Name Meaning
English Crossbow Master
German Armbrust-Meister Crossbow Master
Polish Mistrz kuszy

Trivia[]

  • When supported by a True Sun God with support sacrifices, an Ezili sacrificial totem, a Primary Mentoring Village and a Stronger Stimulant Alchemist, a Crossbow Master can have its range roughly equal to the entire map.
  • According to Ninja Kiwi's 30th July 2021 blog, Crossbow Master wears an eyepiece for optimal aiming purposes and visual aesthetics.
  • During the time when Crossbow Master utilized random crits, it would use a pre-determined rate with RNG variance. In its latest iteration of such, the frequency of critical damage arrows was determined by a pre-determined count for the number of per-shots made, with a plus-or-minus of 2 from the pre-determined crit frequency average, for an average of every 6th shot. Since Version 33.0, this game mechanic has been ditched for all Dart Monkeys.
  • Contrary to popular belief, a Crossbow Master's single-target DPS was still relatively consistent before Version 33.0 removed random crits, due to the high frequency of shots, rather than completely random due to crits. Because of this, the Crossbow Master in its latest iteration prior to Version 33.0 was guaranteed to get a crit at most on the 8th shot after a previous crit, and on the 4th at the least. The DPS ranged between 71.875 and 106.25, with the average being 83.333.
  • There is a meme of this tower "Nothing gets past my crossbow!", showing every yellow, pink, or high round DDT bloons that gets past Crossbow Master's bow
    • Of course, the quote is a parody of Quincy's "Nothing gets past my bow!" quote who also is also infamous for letting fast bloons get past his bow.
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