| “ | Blows Bloons away from the Heli, back toward the entrance. | ” |
| ~ In-game description |
Downdraft is the third upgrade of Path 2 for the Heli Pilot in Bloons TD 6. Similarly to its Bloons TD 5 counterpart, Downdraft regularly blows bloons backwards with its rotors via a blowback effect, which affects Bloons within a 32 radius around the helicopter. Downdraft's blowback effects immediately remove glue and ice, cannot affect Lead Bloons and are less effective versus Ceramics.
The Heli Pilot will periodically produce bursts of wind that are capable of blowing back up to 2 bloons every 0.2s (every 0.16s with 0-3-2), equivalent to around 5 times per second (about every 6.25 times per second with 0-3-2), sending them back between 32 and 150 units. Ceramic Bloons, including Super Ceramics, consume 2 pierce from the rotor's wind, for up to 1 blown Ceramic per cycle by default, rounded up.
This upgrade costs $2,975 on Easy, $3,500 on Medium, $3,780 on Hard, and $4,200 on Impoppable. If this tower is nearby Level 6+ Rosalia's workshop, this upgrade costs $2,675 on Easy, $3,150 on Medium, $3,400 on Hard, and $3,780 on Impoppable.
Description[]
Overview[]
Downdraft blowing back bloons
Downdraft gains two additional rotor blades, for 6 total, each with blue stripes, and its wings are now fully blue. The monkey retains the blue cap and green-tinted goggles, but interestingly, in the upgrade portrait it rests them on its forehead, whilst in-game they are over its eyes.
Crosspathing with path 1 adds two more guns and paints the rotor stripes red. Crosspathing with path 3 adds a yellow or green chevron to each wing.
Downdraft regularly produces wind with a rapidly spinning rotor, producing a gust of wind that blows back bloons. It produces wind even faster with 0-3-2 crosspath. However, the wind is less effective against Ceramics.
Targeting Priorities[]
Downdraft utilizes touch-based mobility and self-mobility to move around the screen with different flight targetings. Its main attack shoots straight movement projectiles, which originate from the Heli Pilot with its independent range like an ordinary tower.
- Follow Touch / Follow Mouse: Moves to where the player taps. On desktop versions, Follow Touch instead becomes Follow Mouse, which will make the Heli Pilot move to wherever the cursor is currently at.
- Lock In Place: Stops the Heli Pilot where it is when the Target Priority is selected. Can be adjusted to choose a different locked location.
- Patrol: Patrols between two spots chosen by the player. Can be adjusted to choose different points.
- Pursuit: Equivalent to the target priority First, except the Heli Pilot will follow in front of the bloons while shooting them. It is unlocked with the purchase of the second upgrade on the first path, with the same name as the target priority. Once upgraded to the respective upgrade, it automatically switches to this target priority.
The Heli Pilot's main attacks always default on First based on the range of the helicopter's weaponry. The blowback attack is locked on Close. Despite gaining camo detection, the Heli Pilot does not gain Camo Prioritization.
Full Popology[]
Statistics[]
- Updated as of Version 45.0
- Base stats
- Landing Base has a rectangular footprint of 27x27. "Dummy range" of 22. Upon placement, spawn Heli Pilot as the main tower.
- Heli Pilot moves at a flight speed of 70. Can be set on Follow Touch / Follow Mouse, Lock In Place, Patrol Points, or Pursuit. Creates Dart projectiles from centre of Heli Pilot if detecting bloons within range. Passively generate Wind.
- Follow Touch / Follow Mouse: move towards wherever the screen was last touched, or wherever the cursor is on screen.
- Lock In Place: move towards the locked location, otherwise stop moving
- Patrol Points: move between two points.
- Dart:
- Projectile, sharp type, camo detection, 42 range, spray of 2, 0.57s attack cooldown, 1 damage, 3 pierce. Projectile size of 3. Projectile speed of 260, projectile lifespan of 1s.
- Wind:
- Zone, shatter type, ignores Lead Bloons and MOAB-class bloons, camo detection, 32 radius, 0.225s attack cooldown, 0 damage, 2 pierce (consumption: Ceramics = 2). Applies blowback to bloons, moving them backwards by 32-150 track distance.
- Crosspathing interactions
- 1-3-0: Dart attack spawn locations adjusted, now simultaneously shooting double sprays of two.
- 2-3-0: Gains Pursuit targeting and modifies Patrol Points to also gain a stadium-shaped range of Pursuit.
- 0-3-1: Dart projectile speed and range increased.
- 0-3-2: Dart attack cooldown reduced from 0.57s to 0.456s, Wind attack cooldown reduced from 0.2s to 0.16s.
- Monkey Knowledge interactions
Airforce Upgrades: All T3+ Heli Pilots get +1 pierce.
- Base pierce increased from 3 to 4
- Wind pierce increased from 2 to 3.
- 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.
- Heli Pilot base cost from $1,360, $1,600, $1,730, and $1,920 → $910, $1,070, $1,160, and $1,285 on Easy, Medium, Hard, and Impoppable, respectively.
- Advanced Logistics: All Military Monkeys base costs reduced by 5%.
- Heli Pilot base cost from $1,360, $1,600, $1,730, and $1,920 → $1,290, $1,520, $1,640, and $1,825 on Easy, Medium, Hard, and Impoppable, respectively.
- If Military Conscription is also enabled, the final cost will be $845, $990, $1,070, and $1,190.
- Heli Pilot base cost from $1,360, $1,600, $1,730, and $1,920 → $1,290, $1,520, $1,640, and $1,825 on Easy, Medium, Hard, and Impoppable, respectively.
- 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 44.0
- Base attack(s)
- Dart:
- Sharp
- Camo Detection
- Straight Spray (2)
- Straight Attack
- Touch-Based Mobility
- Flying
- Wind:
- Shatter
- Camo Detection
- Zone
- Touch-Based Mobility
- Flying
- Target Bloon
- No Damage
- Blowback (32-150 track distance)
- Unfreeze
- Unglue
Costs[]
- Updated as of Version 44.0. 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) | $2,975 | $3,500 | $3,780 | $4,200 | - | |||
| Total (0-3-0) | $5,100 | $6,000 | $6,485 | $7,200 | $3,570 | $4,200 | $4,540 | $5,040 |
| Crosspath (1-3-0) | $5,780 | $6,800 | $7,350 | $8,160 | $4,046 | $4,760 | $5,145 | $5,712 |
| Crosspath (2-3-0) | $6,205 | $7,300 | $7,890 | $8,760 | $4,344 | $5,110 | $5,523 | $6,132 |
| Crosspath (0-3-1) | $5,310 | $6,250 | $6,755 | $7,500 | $3,717 | $4,375 | $4,729 | $5,250 |
| Crosspath (0-3-2) | $5,605 | $6,600 | $7,135 | $7,920 | $3,924 | $4,620 | $4,995 | $5,544 |
This upgrade's prices (or included crosspath's prices) are affected by the following MK: 
Military Conscription, 
Advanced Logistics, 
Better Sell Deals
Strategy[]
Summary[]
Downdraft is considered a reliable source of blowback in this game, due to its effective manual control and consistent blowback. While expensive compared to most other blowback options, its high controllability makes it an ideal option on almost any map condition, not including maps with far-distance simultaneous lanes. It sees the most use in late-game runs when used to reduce progress of Super Ceramics from particular areas along the track, particularly in CHIMPS Mode. In addition to simply blowing back progress of Super Ceramics anywhere, Downdraft is a popular and reliable choice for stalling, often paired with lower-tier Ice Monkeys, usually 0-2-2, for near-infinite stalling. In non-Freeplay gameplay, it is most helpful for blowing back small-to-moderate amounts of bloons that have passed a majority of defenses, such as the Ceramic offspring of MOABs.
As Downdraft has low damage and a consistent blowback, it is an ideal choice for stalling, especially in the late-game for stalling Super Ceramics. Because of this, there are many quirks that can be achieved with Downdraft stalling and controlled crowd control. For instance, Downdraft can be used to force bloons to blow backwards, which in combination with ice and/or glue status effects can be synergetic or anti-synergetic depending on how it is used; its anti-synergy removes important benefits provided by the status effects, but in return the affected bloons are moved out of range of current defenses.
Tips[]
- While the 0-3-0 is generally sufficient for applying consistent blowback against bloons, crosspathing can be added to assist with necessary applications, whether it be needing automatic targeting via Pursuit or blowing back bloons at a faster rate.
- Try the Pursuit upgrade for relatively easy, micro-free blowback against the Ceramics that spawn from MOABs.
- Alternatively, if manual micromanagement is preferred, use the 0-3-2 Downdraft (with Faster Firing) for a faster blowback rate.
- Technically speaking, the Downdraft effect can be improved via Berserker Brew and Stronger Stimulant, which will allow it to blow back a greater number of bloons at a faster rate because of the combined pierce and attack speed buffs. However, the Downdraft effect will consume Alch buffs quite quickly whether or not its other attacks are active or not, which means increasing blowback power by those methods are not always reliable.
- Downdraft is especially useful at holding back Super Ceramics nearing the exit and providing an option to stall rounds once all blimps are popped.
- Since Downdraft's blowback removes glue and ice status effects, hovering a Downdraft near these bloons are only necessary if other defenses are beginning to get overwhelmed. Even so, blow these bloons back a few at a time to minimize anti-synergy.
- In terms of synergy and anti-synergy with Ice Monkeys, it requires higher skill when stalling Super Ceramics and removes protective frozen layers that would be harmful to sharp towers or temporarily stop Regrow Bloon properties. Versus Super Ceramics, the removal of ice effects may be situationally helpful. Rather than remaining at the same location where the bloons froze, which can sometimes become harmful to individual Ice Monkeys, Downdraft's blowback can be used to force bloons to a more favorable location, usually into an isolated stalling area.
- Permafrost status effects are not removed when blown back, making the 1-x-x variants of Ice Monkeys helpful for permanently slowing Super Ceramics.
- Since Icicles' icicles ignore Frozen Bloons unless given 2-0-4, Downdraft has some synergy with other crosspaths of Icicles, allowing the icicles to damage unfrozen bloons.
- Blowing back thawed Frozen Bloons that were frozen by Arctic Wind allows Downdraft to force bloons away from range of the track and back towards the entrance. The freezing aura still affects blown back bloons. Together with the reduced likelihood of having bloons sneak by Arctic Wind thanks to Downdraft, the 1-3-0 Arctic Wind is especially synergetic with Downdraft, even when placed near the back of the track.
- In terms of synergy and anti-synergy with Glue Gunners, Downdraft are generally problematic versus all bloon types, especially Super Ceramics, and stops corrosive potential of all Glue Gunners throughout all stages of the game. Note that the blowback speed of a bloon does slow down while glued; blown bloons move back as if unglued, unless the Glue Gunner applies glue to the recently unglued bloons. However, high-end perfected gameplay may still allow Downdraft to perform Super Ceramic stalling even if there is a Bloon Solver (which greatly anti-stalls).
- Downdraft only blows back bloons that it can affect; MOAB-class bloons can't have their glue or ice effects removed by it.
- In terms of synergy and anti-synergy with Ice Monkeys, it requires higher skill when stalling Super Ceramics and removes protective frozen layers that would be harmful to sharp towers or temporarily stop Regrow Bloon properties. Versus Super Ceramics, the removal of ice effects may be situationally helpful. Rather than remaining at the same location where the bloons froze, which can sometimes become harmful to individual Ice Monkeys, Downdraft's blowback can be used to force bloons to a more favorable location, usually into an isolated stalling area.
Version History[]
Balance Changes[]
 |
Check if Downdraft + Ice ice status effect removal interaction got fixed, dejavu of 44.0 patch notes? |
Because of how cost-efficient and effective its blowback power is compared to other options, Downdraft's blowback rate was nerfed for the non-crosspathed variant to reduce the power of 2-3-0 Downdraft. On the other side, 0-3-2 Downdraft's blowback was buffed overall to reward players for proper Downdraft micromanagement. Its flexible mobilility and generally reliable blowback has made it a popular option for stalling rounds, which made it become nerfed in Version 32.0 and 33.0. Version 36.0 attempted to nerf its late-game potential with Ice stalling by allowing Downdraft to remove glue and ice effects, which incidentally changed the optimal way to stall with Downdraft; higher-skilled players generally consider this an overall buff. It was nerfed again in Version 38.0 specifically to reduce its effectiveness against Ceramics.
- Initial release (compared to BTD5)
- Downdraft cost increased ($2500 → $3000)
- 20.0
| “ | Pursuit Downdraft has felt like an overperformer for a very long time, but instead of outright nerfing it we increased crosspath potential for those who manually take control over their heli micro. [...] | ” |
| ~ Ninja Kiwi |
- 030 blow rate reduced from 0.125s to 0.15s
- 032 blow rate increased from 0.125s to 0.12s
- 32.0
| “ | Heli’s blowback has always been extremely effective from early on, and as players have become more knowledgeable the use into lategame as well only seems to go up especially moving into Super Ceramics. This change shouldn’t really have as large an impact at higher level gameplay as total map length is so much shorter you will often still be blowing back the entire track, but the blowback range has been reduced at T3 leading back into the old value at T4 | ” |
| ~ Ninja Kiwi |
- Downdraft blowback distance reduced from 32-300 to 32-150. Support Chinook blowback distance remains at 32-300.
- 33.0
| “ | [...] Downdraft has more general use throughout the game and scales better than the more expensive MOAB Shove upgrade though they both see use, so the price of these upgrades has been swapped around. [...] | ” |
| ~ Ninja Kiwi |
- Downdraft price increased from $3000 to $3500
- 36.0
| “ | For how powerful downdraft is in comparison to other blowback effects, it didn’t feel right that it wasn’t blowing off status effects as should be normal there. [...] | ” |
| ~ Ninja Kiwi |
- Downdraft's blowback now removes glue and ice status effects with blowback
- In terms of nerfs, it makes late-game stalling harder to perform in combination with Ice, since Downdraft removes important benefits from the glue/ice status effects, as well as allowing Downdraft to more easily damage bloons.
- In terms of buffs, it is now easier to forcefully reposition bloons and remove ice/glue properties at will.
- 38.0
| “ | Given Downdraft has competed as one of the most debated best towers in the game basically for its entire life for both early and late game we are reducing some of the extreme effectiveness against late game Super Ceramics by reworking it to have an overall increased effect of blowing back multiple smaller children at a time but now requiring 2 pierce to blow back ceramics. [...] | ” |
| ~ Ninja Kiwi |
- x-3-0 Downdraft's blowback rate decreased (0.15s → 0.225s)
- 0-3-2 Downdraft's blowback rate decreased (0.12s → 0.18s)
- Downdraft's blowback pierce increased with an increased penalty to Ceramics
- Downdraft's blowback pierce increased (1 → 2)
- Downdraft's blowback now gains a +1 pierce penalty versus Ceramics
- [undocumented, possibly bug] Blowback no longer removes ice status effect.
- 45.0
- x-3-0 Downdraft blowback cooldown decreased from 0.225s to 0.2s. Does not affect Support Chinook (0.15s).
- 0-3-2 Downdraft blowback cooldown decreased from 0.18s to 0.16s. Does not affect Support Chinook (0.12s).
Bug Fixes and General Changes[]
 |
This section is incomplete. You can help by expanding it. |
Extra Notes (Version History)[]
- Version 44.0 buffed Rosalia's Level 6+ discount from 5% to 10%, which changed the prices of Downdraft when buffed by her:
- Easy: $2825 → $2675
- Medium: $3325 → $3150
- Hard: $3590 → $3400
- Impoppable: $3990 → $3780
Gallery[]
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Official artwork[]
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- In BTD6, this upgrade costs $1000 more than in BTD5 for the upgrade alone ($3500 instead of $2500), but overall a 0-3-0 costs $900 more than the respective BTD5 crosspath counterpart due to the Bigger Jets cost decrease and base Heli Pilot cost increase.
- There was a strange interaction with Downdraft and Monkey Intelligence Bureau whereby MIB allows Downdraft to blowback Leads but not Frozen, even though Downdraft normally blowbacks neither Frozen nor Lead. As of 25.1 testing, this glitch no longer exists. Instead, Downdraft is unable to blowback Lead or Frozen Bloons completely. Frozen Bloons unfrozen are still are blown backwards if affected by at least one Downdraft effect, even after 25.1.
- Prior to Version 36.0 reworking Downdraft's blowback effects, there was an interesting interaction with Frozen Bloons whereby the Downdraft effect can affect them only after the bloons defrost. This was discovered in Version 25.0 after Ninja Kiwi applied a damage types rework for many towers in the game. After v36.0, Frozen Bloons thaw before getting blown backwards once affected by Downdraft.
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