Distraction (BTD6)

BTD5

BTD6

BTDB2

Distraction

General Information

Game

Bloons TD 6

Tower

Ninja Monkey

Unlocked at

200 XP

Cost

$295 (Easy)
$350 (Medium)
$380 (Hard)
$420 (Impoppable)

Activated Ability

N/A

Targeting Options

First, Last, Close, Strong, Camo Priority
(Caltrops locked to Normal if purchased)

Camo Detection

Yes

Popology

Damage Type(s)

Sharp

Camo affected

Single Projectile

Straight Attack

RNG

Blowback

Statistics

Damage

1 (shuriken)

Pierce

2 (shuriken, excluding additional upgrades)

Attack Speed

Moderately Fast (every 0.7s, excluding additional upgrades)

Range

40 (excluding additional upgrades)

Status Effects

Blowback 100-150 units (shuriken, 15% chance)

Tower Boosts

N/A

Path Upgrades

Current

Next →

Distraction

Counter-Espionage

Path Info

Path

Upgrade Tier

2

1

Related upgrades

Distraction (BTD5), for the BTD5 counterpart

[Source]

“	Some Bloons will become distracted and move backwards.	”
	^{~ In-game description}

Distraction is the first upgrade of Path 2 for the Ninja Monkey in Bloons TD 6. Every attack from shurikens, Caltrops, and Flash Bombs will now have a chance (shuriken: 15%, caltrops: 10%, flash bomb: 30%) to apply blowback onto non-MOAB class bloons. Bloons blown away this way move 100-150 units backwards from their original location but only 50-75 units backwards if the target is a Ceramic Bloon.

Unlike BTD5, this upgrade and Seeking Shuriken are now on separate paths.

This upgrade costs $295 on Easy, $350 on Medium, $380 on Hard, and $420 on Impoppable.

Description[]

Overview[]

The Ninja Monkey gains an emblem on the head of the monkey, the emblem consisting of a black shuriken and black ring around it. Crosspaths also share this emblem as a signification of this particular crosspath.

Distraction lets shurikens, caltrops (from Caltrops upgrade), and flash bombs (from Flash Bomb upgrade) to have a chance to apply Blowback status onto bloons. Bloons affected are blown back a distance further back from the track. Also, Flash Bomb's stun comes before the blowback effects.

Targeting Priorities[]

Distraction 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.

All Ninja Monkeys can access Camo Prioritization. While Camo Prioritization is active, it allows all its attacks to prioritize Camo Bloons over other types.

Costs[]

Updated as of Version 42.0. 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-1-X)	$295	$350	$380	$420	-
Total (0-1-0)	$720	$850	$920	$1,020	$504	$595	$644	$714
Crosspath (1-1-0)	$975	$1,150	$1,245	$1,380	$683	$805	$872	$966
Crosspath (2-1-0)	$1,270	$1,500	$1,625	$1,800	$889	$1,050	$1,138	$1,260
Crosspath (0-1-1)	$930	$1,100	$1,190	$1,320	$651	$770	$833	$924
Crosspath (0-1-2)	$1,270	$1,500	$1,620	$1,800	$889	$1,050	$1,134	$1,260

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

Strategy[]

Summary[]

Distraction is unreliable at inflicting blowback, especially compared to Druid of the Storm or Downdraft, but it is still one of many ways to reduce progress of bloons. Its status effects are purely reliant on RNG, so do not primarily rely on this upgrade. However, upgrading the Ninja's attacks and/or adding groups of Distraction Ninjas, especially Shinobi Tactics armies, can increase the likelihood of the Distraction effect to occur to bloons.

Tips[]

Distraction can be compared to the Druid's Druid of the Storm upgrade, except that Ninja Monkey's Distraction triggers by a low chance via any attack.
If this form of blowback is used on a Regrow Bloon, unless there is a tower in range, it might regrow on the way back, which means if it is used on a Ceramic Bloon that has been destroyed, it could turn back into a Ceramic Bloon.
Having a Bloonjitsu with Distraction can be helpful, but can start Regrow Farms.
Distraction is very useful in combination with a couple of other Distraction Ninjas or a Bloonjitsu, which in particular allows it to send back leftover Ceramics backwards quite reliably.
Since popular higher upgrades cannot have both Distraction and Seeking Shuriken at the same time, it is best to keep high-level Distraction Ninjas near the path that leads the exit.
The chances for blowback by adding Upper Path 1 crosspathing is no different compared to not getting Upper Path 1 crosspathing, as all shurikens spawned from the same Ninja have the same probability of applying Distraction effect. However, in the case where a lucky Distraction effect occurs, there is a much more effective blowback in a single shot.
Flash Bomb's Distraction works in a different way; bloons are stunned and then blown back, not blown back while stunned.

Version History[]

Balance Changes[]

Distraction gained a considerable rework in Version 40.0 specifically to balance out early-game with late-game of the blowback effect. Before that, the base Ninja did receive a balance change that may possibly influence camo-related strategies, such as a niche strategy where bloons with Camo should be blowed back first; and Version 29.0 lists the buff to Caltrops and Flash Bomb interactions as a "bug fix" than a balance change, although it is pretty significant.

28.0

“	As ninja is the 'Camo Specialist' and has been since inception, it is the only tower that will unlock Camo Prioritization on the base tower. [...]	”
	^{~ Ninja Kiwi}

Affected by base Ninja Monkey, by gaining natural Camo Prioritization target option

29.0

Caltrops and Flash Bombs with this upgrade can now distract bloons.

40.0

“	For an early game Distraction improvement the consistency of blowbacks is being averaged out more with increased minimum distance but reduced maximum, in many cases there would not actually be 250 units of track length in front of defenses to be blown back across anyway so the overall average distance is slightly lower. More at the mid to endgame we are also weakening distraction distance against Ceramics specifically as by this point Ninja have stacked so much speed and projectiles the consistency doesn’t matter anymore. Finally, distraction values for secondary projectiles are being modified, as Distraction chance as it has existed was never balanced around more than the main attack	”
	^{~ Ninja Kiwi}

Distraction blowback range normalized (all attacks): 10-250 units → 100-150 units
Distraction distance applies to Ceramics at 0.5x. Blowback range changed from 10-250 units to 50-75 units.
0-1-2 Distraction chance of caltrops reduced (15% → 10%)
0-1-3 Flash Bomb distraction chance of flash bomb increased (15% → 30%)

Gallery[]

Official artwork[]

Trivia[]

Distraction is the only Tier 1 Ninja Monkey upgrade that was Tier 2 in BTD5 generation games.
Distraction is the only Tier 1 upgrade to apply blowback effects.