- "Faster Darts" redirects here. For the BSM upgrade, see Faster Darts (BSM).
| “ | Darts are propelled much faster through the air. | ” |
| ~ In-game description |
Faster Darts is the first upgrade of Path 3 (second upgrade of Path 3 prior to Version 18.0) for the Heli Pilot in Bloons TD 6. It increases the projectile speed of only the Heli Pilot's darts, from 260 to 416; other projectiles are not affected. In addition, it also increases range of the helicopter's dart or any bottom path upgrade attack by 30%, the range of the main darts increasing from 42 to 54.6. However, the range bonus does not affect Razor Rotors's rotors, Apache Dartship or Apache Prime missiles, or Downdraft's blowback range.
This upgrade costs $210 on Easy, $250 on Medium, $270 on Hard, and $300 on Impoppable. If this tower is nearby Level 6+ Rosalia's workshop, this upgrade costs $190 on Easy, $225 on Medium, $245 on Hard, and $270 on Impoppable.
Description[]
Overview[]
Faster Darts
Heli Pilot with Faster Darts receives two "wings" on each side, each of which is marked with a yellow chevron each.
Faster Darts increases projectile speed of the darts, and also increases base range of the Heli Pilot's dart attacks.
Targeting Priorities[]
Faster Darts 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.
Full Popology[]
Statistics[]
- Updated as of Version 44.0
- 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 40. Can be set on Follow Touch / Follow Mouse, Lock In Place, or Patrol Points. Creates Dart projectiles from centre of Heli Pilot if detecting bloons within range.
- 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, 54.6 range, spray of 2, 0.57s attack cooldown, 1 damage, 3 pierce. Projectile size of 3. Projectile speed of 416, projectile lifespan of 1s.
- Crosspathing interactions
- 0-2-1: Dart gains camo detection.
- 0-4-1: Dart damage increased from 1 to 2.
- 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.
- 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
- Straight Spray (2)
- Straight Attack
- Touch-Based Mobility
- Flying
Costs[]
- Updated as of Version 49.0. 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-1) | $210 | $250 | $270 | $300 | - | |||
| Total (0-0-1) | $1,485 | $1,750 | $1,890 | $2,100 | $1,040 | $1,225 | $1,323 | $1,470 |
| Crosspath (1-0-1) | $2,165 | $2,550 | $2,755 | $3,060 | $1,516 | $1,785 | $1,929 | $2,142 |
| Crosspath (2-0-1) | $2,590 | $3,050 | $3,295 | $3,660 | $1,813 | $2,135 | $2,307 | $2,562 |
| Crosspath (0-1-1) | $1,740 | $2,050 | $2,215 | $2,460 | $1,218 | $1,435 | $1,551 | $1,722 |
| Crosspath (0-2-1) | $2,250 | $2,650 | $2,865 | $3,180 | $1,575 | $1,855 | $2,006 | $2,226 |
This upgrade's prices (or included crosspath's prices) are affected by the following MK: 
Military Conscription, 
Advanced Logistics, 
Better Sell Deals
Strategy[]
Summary[]
There is little point of purchasing this upgrade alone, as the increased projectile speed usually does nearly no help in improving the overall performance of the Heli Pilot. However, the Faster Darts upgrade can be used to lock in the Path 3 crosspath to purchase Faster Firing and its further upgrades. The extra range can be somewhat handy if needing to snipe bloons from further.
Tips[]
- As of Version 18.0, Faster Darts is required for Faster Firing, which increases attack speed of all attacks by 25%.
- Faster Darts is somewhat useful for allowing more accurate shots when chasing bloons, but is usually not very useful on most other occasions.
- On a very few select challenges, starting from Version 13.0 with the release of Bloody Puddles, Faster Darts is a suitable solution for sniping out targets from far away.
Version History[]
Balance Changes[]
Faster Darts was "buffed" in Version 18.0, but it is more technically a "change" because of the unpredictable nature of balance changes involving upgrade swaps. This was done to nerf the overall price of Faster Firing because some players who went for Path 3 crosspathing were intentionally skipping on the previously Tier 2 Faster Darts upgrade. In Version 33.0, Faster Darts was buffed with intention of minimizing issues with clumping Heli Pilots together.
- 18.0
- Faster Darts upgrade swapped with Faster Firing.
- 33.0
| “ | [...] Faster Darts xx1 upgrade will now increase the attack distance of Heli Dart attacks in order to assist with cluttering issues where large numbers of Helis will push each other away from nearby targets. | ” |
| ~ Ninja Kiwi |
- Faster Darts also increases helicopter range of its dart attacks by +30%
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 Faster Darts when buffed by her:
- Easy: $200 → $190
- Medium: $235 → $225
- Hard: $255 → $245
- Impoppable: $285 → $270
Gallery[]
Official artwork (post-18.0)[]
Official artwork (pre-18.0)[]
Trivia[]
- It is one of the only upgrades in BTD6 that only increases projectile speed.
- Faster Rangs used to feature only increased projectile speed, but this was changed in Version 7.0 to also increase attack speed.
- Faster Darts is a common meme among the BTD6 community, mostly because of how underpowered it is, although joking about Faster Darts went out of fashion Version 19.0, one month after swapping Faster Darts and Faster Firing.
- Faster Firing and Faster Darts are the first pair of tower upgrades in the main Bloons TD series to have swapped places (Faster Firing used to come first).
- Bloons Adventure Time TD was technically the first, but it isn't part of the main Bloons TD series. Interestingly, this was for Marceline, who attacks most similarly to the Heli Pilot.
- The Alchemist also had Faster Throwing and Acid Pool swapped (Acid Pool used to come first) as of Version 21.0.
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