Faster Firing (BTD6 Heli Pilot)

BTD6

BTDB2

Faster Firing
General Information
Game	Bloons TD 6
Tower	Heli Pilot
Unlocked at	550 XP
Cost	$295 (Easy) $350 (Medium) $380 (Hard) $420 (Impoppable)
Activated Ability	N/A
Targeting Options	Follow Touch/Mouse, Lock in Place, Patrol Points, Pursuit with upgrade
Camo Detection	Restricted (can be upgraded to 0-2-2)
Popology
Damage Type(s)
Sharp Straight Spray 2x Straight Attack Self-Mobility
Statistics
Damage	1 (darts, spray of 2, e.a.u.)
Pierce	3 (darts, spray of 2, e.a.u.)
Attack Speed	Fast (every 0.456s, darts, e.a.u.)
Range	52 (darts, spray of 2, e.a.u.)
Status Effects	N/A
Tower Boosts	N/A
Income/Life Boosts	N/A
Path Upgrades
← Previous	Faster Darts
← Previous	Faster Darts
Current	Faster Firing
Current	Faster Firing
Next →	MOAB Shove
Next →	MOAB Shove
Path Info
Path	3
Path	3
Upgrade Tier	2
Upgrade Tier	2
Related upgrades
Faster Firing (Sniper Monkey)
[Source]

For the Sniper upgrade, see Faster Firing (Sniper Monkey).

“	Faster attack speed for all Heli attacks.	”
	~ In-game description

Faster Firing is the second upgrade on Path 3 (first upgrade on Path 3 prior to Version 18.0) for the Heli Pilot in Bloons TD 6. It increases the speed of all the Heli Pilot's attacks by +25%. Darts are shot every 0.456s instead of 0.57s.

This upgrade costs $295 on Easy, $350 on Medium, $380 on Hard, and $420 on Impoppable. If this tower is nearby Level 6+ Rosalia's workshop, this upgrade costs $265 on Easy, $315 on Medium, $340 on Hard, and $380 on Impoppable.

Description

Overview

Heli Pilot with Faster Firing changes its paintwork from green to dark-grey, and the chevrons on the "wings" are colored green instead of yellow.

Attack speed of all Heli's attacks are increased by +25%. Darts are shot every 0.448s instead of 0.56s.

Targeting Priorities

Faster Firing 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, 0.456s attack cooldown, 1 damage, 3 pierce. Projectile size of 3. Projectile speed of 416, projectile lifespan of 1s.

Crosspathing interactions

• 0-2-2: Dart gains camo detection.
• 0-3-2: Wind attack cooldown decreased from 0.225s to 0.18s
• 0-4-2: Dart damage increased from 1 to 2, Wind attack cooldown decreased from 0.15s to 0.12s
• 0-5-2: Wind attack cooldown decreased from 0.075s to 0.06s
• 1-0-2: Dart attack spawn locations adjusted, now simultaneously shooting double sprays of two.
• 3-0-2: Rotor attack cooldown decreased from 0.45s to 0.36s.
• 4-0-2: Dart attack cooldown decreased from 0.4275s to 0.342s, Rotor attack cooldown decreased from 0.45s to 0.36s, Rocket attack cooldown decreased from 1.0s to 0.75s, Machine Gun attack cooldown decreased from 0.05s to 0.04s.
• 5-0-2: Laser attack cooldown decreased from 0.4275s to 0.342s, Rotor attack cooldown decreased from 0.45s to 0.36s, Rocket attack cooldown decreased from 1.0s to 0.75s, Machine Gun attack cooldown decreased from 0.05s to 0.04s.

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.
• 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 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-X-2)	$295	$350	$380	$420	-
Total (0-0-2)	$1,865	$2,200	$2,380	$2,640	$1,306	$1,540	$1,666	$1,848
Crosspath (1-0-2)	$2,545	$3,000	$3,245	$3,600	$1,782	$2,100	$2,272	$2,520
Crosspath (2-0-2)	$2,970	$3,500	$3,785	$4,200	$2,079	$2,450	$2,650	$2,940
Crosspath (0-1-2)	$2,120	$2,500	$2,705	$3,000	$1,484	$1,750	$1,894	$2,100
Crosspath (0-2-2)	$2,630	$3,100	$3,355	$3,720	$1,841	$2,170	$2,349	$2,604

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

Strategy

Summary

Faster Firing improves the attack speed of the Heli Pilot by a fair margin, for +25% attack speed. It becomes very helpful in combination with Quad Darts and above for extra damage, or it can be paired with Downdraft for increased blowback rate or Special Poperations for the increased Marine attack speed. Since the previous upgrade, Faster Darts, is nearly useless, the Faster Firing upgrade should be regarded as a plain $600 upgrade, rather than a $350 upgrade.

Tips

• Downdraft benefits from this crosspath, allowing faster rates of blowback.
• Special Poperations also benefits from this crosspath, which allows the Marine to attack faster too.
• Razor Rotors does benefit from this crosspath, but it also benefits its higher upgrades Apache Dartship and Apache Prime, which both appreciate the faster cleanup.

Version History

Balance Changes

Faster Firing was "nerfed" in Version 18.0 when the Faster Darts and Faster Firing upgrades were swapped, although technically it was more of a "change" because of the unpredictable nature of upgrade swapping balance changes. In addition, Faster Firing now has gained some interactions with Tier 3 crosspathing, but only so far with Downdraft.

18.0

• Faster Firing and Faster Darts upgrades are swapped.

20.0

• Faster Firing now improves blowback rate for Downdraft.

24.0

• Description changed from "Faster attack speed." to "Faster attack speed for all Heli attacks."

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 Firing now increases helicopter range of its dart attacks by +30%

37.0

• Faster Firing now improves attack rate for Razor Rotors’ rotors.

Extra Notes (Version History)

• Version 44.0 buffed Rosalia's Level 6+ discount from 5% to 10%, which changed the prices of Faster Shooting when buffed by her:
  • Easy: $280 → $265
  • Medium: $330 → $315
  • Hard: $360 → $340
  • Impoppable: $400 → $380

Gallery

Faster Firing in upgrades menu as of Version 18.0

Faster Firing in upgrades menu before Version 18.0

Enough XP to unlock Faster Firing

Crosspathing (Top: Path 1, Bottom: Path 2)

Official artwork

Official artwork (post-18.0)

Upgrade portrait

Upgrade icon

Instamonkey icon

Official artwork (pre-18.0)

Old upgrade portrait before the upgrade swap in Version 18.0

Upgrade icon for Faster Firing

Instamonkey icon for Faster Firing

Other official artwork

Faster Firing as seen in the main menu

Trivia

• 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).
  • At v21.0, Faster Throwing and Acid Pool also swapped places (Acid Pool used to be first).
  • Bloons Adventure Time TD was technically the first, but it is not part of the main Bloons TD series. Interestingly, this was for Marceline, who attacks most similarly to the Heli Pilot.