Wizard Lord becomes a master of the flame, turning into a super powerful Lava Phoenix for a short time.
”
~ In-game description
The Wizard Lord Phoenix is the Path 2, Tier 5 upgrade for the Wizard Monkey in Bloons TD 6. Wizard Lord makes the phoenix from the Summon Phoenix ability permanent, and grants an ability that allows Wizard Lord to summon another much more powerful version of the Summon Phoenix. While the ability is active, a carved flame rune is left where the Wizard was. Activating the ability temporarily transforms the Wizard Monkey into a super powerful phoenix that deals massively increased damage and pierce, in addition to the improved phoenix flame attack (with significantly faster projectile speed) that spews every 0.1s, every 1.0s the phoenix regularly spews out 8 fireballs at 45° angles. The meteors can pop any bloon type including Purple Bloons, but neither attack can pop Camo Bloons without 0-5-2 crosspath or external camo detection. 1-5-0 crosspath causes the flames of the Phoenix and Lava Phoenix to lightly home.
All fiery spells from the main Wizard gain an overhaul of improvements. The basic Dragon's Breath attack now shoots 3 streams of fire with 15 pierce each instead of 3. Additionally, the Fireball attack deals 27 damage instead of 9, and the Wall of Fire's blaze deals 3 damage every 0.10s for its "tick" damage.
The ability lasts 20 seconds and has a cooldown of 45 seconds, which is around 44% uptime. There is always an initial cooldown of 15s for the Wizard Lord Phoenix regardless of whether the Summon Phoenix ability was in cooldown or not.
This upgrade costs $42,500 on Easy, $50,000 on Medium, $54,000 on Hard, and $60,000 on Impoppable.
The Wizard Lord Phoenix looks fairly similar to its predecessor but receives some major changes. Instead of wearing a hat, its robe gains a cowl with two eyes, a feathery mohawk, and a beak-shape resembling that of a phoenix. It also gains red feathered wings with light orange borders on its back. It retains the wand and gloves from Summon Phoenix but the gloves are now dark-red with shining gems on them.
The Lava Phoenix looks almost identical to the regular Phoenix, but it is much darker with a glowing orange vein-like pattern throughout.
Besides massively improving the damage and pierce of Dragon's Breath attacks, it replaces the Summon Phoenix ability for a permanent phoenix and the Wizard Lord Phoenix ability.
Targeting Priorities[]
Wizard Lord Phoenix 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.
The Phoenix's and Lava Phoenix's flames will follow the tower's targeting option. All Phoenixes including the Lava Phoenix fly in a smaller version of the Centered Path flight targeting.
The following is a list of statistics of a Wizard Monkey with Wizard Lord Phoenix. It includes its base statistics and all associated crosspathing interactions. Expand the box on the right to see further information.
On-track item, fire type, 40 range, 4.5s attack cooldown, 3 damage per 0.1s, 15 pierce, ~10 (?) projectile size, 4.5s lifespan. Locked on Close targeting.
Breath Flame:
Projectile, fire type, 40 range, angular spray of 3, 0.135s attack cooldown, 2 damage, ~3 (?) projectile size, 0.4s lifespan.
Summon Phoenix:
Creates Phoenix sub-tower. Lasts indefinitely.
Phoenix:
Flies around in a flight pattern of 90 flight radius and centered at the center of the screen.
Phoenix Flame:
Projectile, fire type, flies above all Line of Sight restrictions, infinite range, 0.1s attack cooldown, 5 damage, 10 pierce, 6 projectile size. Target priority based on main Wizard.
Ability stats
Summon Lava Phoenix:
Transforms Wizard Monkey into a Lava Phoenix sub-tower. Leaves behind a rune where the Wizard Monkey was, and once expired immediately returns back to Wizard Monkey. Lasts for 20 seconds.
Other stats
Lava Phoenix:
Flies around in a flight pattern of 90 flight radius and centered at the center of the screen.
Lava Phoenix Flame:
Projectile, normal type, flies above all Line of Sight restrictions, infinite range, 0.1s attack cooldown, 20 damage, 50 pierce, 6 projectile size. Target priority based on main Wizard.
Lava Phoenix Meteors:
Projectile, normal type, flies above all Line of Sight restrictions, radial spray of 8, infinite range, 1.0s attack cooldown, 50 damage, 500 pierce, 6 projectile size. Target priority based on main Wizard.
Crosspathing interactions
1-5-0:
Bolt ignores Line of Sight
Fireball ignores Line of Sight
Firewall ignores Line of Sight and can be targeted at nearby bloons based on target priority
Breath Flame lifespan increases from 0.4s to 0.8s and ignores Line of Sight
2-5-0:
Bolt deals 2 damage instead of 1.
0-5-1:
Bolt pierce increased to 8 (+5), and projectile speed increases
Fireball pierce increases to 23 (+5)
Firewall pierce increases to 20 (+5)
Dragon's breath pierce increases to 17 (+2)
0-5-2:
Base tower gains camo detection, and all new attacks can affect camo
Wizard Lord Phoenix is a very expensive upgrade that can be used to inflict massive damage to all bloons on the entire screen. If timed properly, it can substantially clear very dense rounds such as Round 98. However, a Wizard Lord Phoenix without its ability is weak, even with the much stronger fire attacks and the added permanent phoenix, so backup support is most certainly required with this tower. Like most of the powerful ability-based towers, adequate methods of stalling should be added to increase the availability of the Wizard Lord Phoenix's ability in preparation for difficult situations.
Tips[]
Wizard Lord Phoenix significantly improved Dragon Breath makes it very unlikely to be pierce capped, its major weakness is its weak single target damage notably ZOMGs, Fortified BFBs and BAD.
Upgrading Wizard Lord Phoenix to 2-5-0 or 0-5-2 will make considerable difference in power from crosspaths. 1-5-0 crosspath has better general performance by homing flames, although meteors won't. Wizard Lord Phoenix ability needs camo detection to detect Camo Bloons, so Monkey Sense has some use for natural camo detection, though it also adds specialized targeting against DDTs via Camo Prioritization.
However, in terms of basic non-ability attacks, 2-5-0 is generally better because this takes advantage of the improved 15 pierce (opposed to 3 pierce) of the original non-ability Dragon's Breath attacks to last much longer, making it useful for reaching many more bloons before projectile expiry. The opposite crosspath, 0-5-2, is still useful, as it allows it to attack Camo Bloons with its Dragon's Breath attacks, although the pierce buff bonuses for all its attacks are near negligible.
Note that the Wizard Lord Phoenix transformation and the regular phoenix are both considered sub-towers, and thus cannot be buffed by Alchemists.
Consider using this upgrade on maps where the Monkey Ace's Centered Path is highly effective, as the Wizard Lord Phoenix's radial meteor attacks will benefit greatly from shooting directly under bloons.
The Wizard Lord Phoenix upgrade is extremely powerful when timed correctly. One entire use of the ability is able to greatly reduce extremely difficult rounds such as Rounds 98 and 99 if used correctly.
Apparently, the Wizard Lord Phoenix transformation will always start travelling towards the direction where the Wizard Lord Phoenix disappeared. In the case where the ability is used for the first time in a game, the Wizard Lord Phoenix always guarantees to travel towards the left of the original monkey's carved rune, out towards where the closest point where the Centered Path pathway is.
Stalling is harder with Wizard Lord Phoenix, as its permanent phoenix can still deal damage to bloons outside the Wizard's immediate range.
Version History[]
Balance Changes[]
Formerly considered one of the worst Tier 5 upgrades in the game when the game first released, Wizard Lord Phoenix has eventually evolved to become a popular option in custom challenges, especially 2TC. Alongside several major price buffs, the main ability has been dramatically improved in damage, rendering it practically useful at wiping out dense rounds with ease with proper timing. Wizard Lord Phoenix additionally had received several quality-of-life changes, more specifically with the addition of a permanent base phoenix. Additionally, its main fire attacks were improved too to make it more useful while the ability is under cooldown.
2.0
Multiple Wizard Lord Phoenix upgrades can no longer be exploited through activated Wizard Lord Phoenix ability.
Wizard Lord Phoenix now shoots 8 fireball projectiles instead of 4.
Wizard Lord Phoenix projectile speed and fire breath attack speed greatly increased.
4.0
Wizard Lord Phoenix ability now deals 4x damage on its main attack and 10x damage on radial fire burst.
6.0
The tower's and the Phoenix's main fire breath attack has increased to 50 pierce each.
7.0
Wizard Lord Phoenix price reduced. ($80,000 → $60,000).
11.0
Wizard Lord Phoenix now has a basic phoenix active whenever ability is inactive.
12.0
Base phoenix damage increased from 2 to 3.
Base phoenix projectile speed increased from 200 to 300.
17.0
Base phoenix disappears after ability is used. (Likely unintentional.)
17.1
Base phoenix is now completely permanent, even while the ability is active.
Despite ranking low overall, Wizard Lord Phoenix has dodged balance changes because of its extremely popular place as a challenge tower. With the rise of other towers in challenges, we've decided to start off buffing it based on its own merits in general gameplay. [...]
”
~ Ninja Kiwi
Wizard Lord Phoenix price reduced. ($60,000 → $54,000).
Wizard Lord Phoenix's Fireball damage increased (1 → 9).
Wizard Lord Phoenix's Dragon's Breath damage increased (1 → 2).
25.0
“
Wall of Fire has been reworked in order to cut down on cases of frustrating randomness as well as the initial cooldown on the attack being reduced. Additionally at the highest tier all fire attacks will be further enhanced in damage
”
~ Ninja Kiwi
Wizard Lord Phoenix, Fireball damage increased from 9 → 27.
Wizard Lord Phoenix, Wall of Fire damage increased 1 → 3.
Wizard Lord Phoenix, Breath damage increased from 2 → 6.
Affected by Wall of Fire placement rework.
27.0
“
In order to allow for more strategic use of the birdy, Summoned Phoenix will now follow the set target priority.
”
~ Ninja Kiwi, referring to Summon Phoenix
[Undocumented] Both the permanent Phoenix and the ability-induced Lava Phoenix for Wizard Lord Phoenix are affected by this buff as well.
28.0
“
Some general buffs have been made to Wizard's abilities to give it a small boost. [...]
”
~ Ninja Kiwi
Wizard Lord Phoenix ability cooldown reduced from 50s -> 45s
Wizard Lord Phoenix perma-phoenix damage increased from 4 -> 5
Wizard Lord Phoenix perma-phoenix pierce increased from 6 -> 10
Wizard Lord Phoenix Ability flaming ball travel range increased from 180 -> 250
29.0
“
As Wall of Fire still stands out too much for a Tier 2 upgrade, it is seeing a nerf with some power being shifted further up to the T3 instead. In contrast, Fireball continues to underwhelm, so is seeing an initial buff plus a larger buff at T3.
”
~ Ninja Kiwi, referring to Dragon's Breath
Affected by Dragon's Breath reworks
31.0
Patched a bug for the 0-4-2 crosspath that when set to Strong and Camo Priority, the Phoenix attacked would only attack strong without any regard for Camo Priority.
31.2
Affected by buff that removed Dragon's Breath no single-layer damage
32.0
“
Polishing some crosspaths, 130 Dragons Breath is the only crosspath for Guided Magic that doesn't yet attack through walls, and 011 Fireball also does not benefit from having the pierce crosspath
”
~ Ninja Kiwi
Affected by 1-3-0 Dragon's Breath LoS ignorance buff
Affected by 0-1-1 Fireball buff
33.0
Affected by base Phoenix pierce nerf
Affected by Dragon's Breath buffs and added Level 5+ Gwen Pyrotechnics synergy
34.0
“
[...] Phoenix is still far too strong for an extremely cheap T4, so cost is being shifted from the T5 down.
”
~ Ninja Kiwi
Wizard Lord Phoenix price reduced $54,000 -> $52,500
Overall price change is $0, due to the Summon Phoenix upgrade cost increased by $1500.
36.0
“
Dragon’s Breath will still be great, just a little less excessively so
”
~ Ninja Kiwi, referring to Dragon's Breath
Affected by Dragon's Breath flame nerfs
38.0
“
Middle path T4 Phoenix continues carrying rounds quite well for a long period of the game, as a light nerf here we’re taking away the free camo detection that Phoenix used to get, given the tower has a camo crosspath it could go for to properly inherit this onto the phoenix anyway. [...]
”
~ Ninja Kiwi, referring to Summon Phoenix
Wizard Lord Phoenix's phoenix and lava phoenix transformation no longer naturally detects camo without the 0-5-2 crosspath
Summon Phoenix's and Wizard Lord Phoenix's targeting priorities can now be adjusted using targeting options while the phoenix is active, instead of set only on the targeting priority of the parent Wizard at the time of spawning.
39.0
“
We set up for this Wall of Fire change quite a while ago, however finally it feels that Wall of Fire has cooled off enough to smooth out the curve a little more, granting it seamless uptime with crosspathing and a lower price tag. Summon Phoenix price is increasing more along with a larger reduction in cost to the Wizard Lord Phoenix, however Phoenix will now also be able to gain seeking frontal breath attacks with Guided Magic crosspathing. [...]
”
~ Ninja Kiwi, referring to Path 2 Wizards
Wizard Lord Phoenix cost decreased ($52,500 -> $50,000)
Overall price change is -$1150, as Summon Phoenix changed total cost by +$1500 and WoF by -$150.
1-5-0 Wizard Lord Phoenix now allows Phoenix and Lava Phoenix flames to lightly home
Affected by 1-2-0 WoF buffs
41.0
“
Dragon's Breath is too much of an early powerhouse right now, as the DoT doesn't care for high rate we're reducing that rate, but slightly reducing the cost of Phoenix as well. [...]
”
~ Ninja Kiwi
Wizard Lord Phoenix's Dragon's Breath attack cooldown increased from 0.125s to 0.135s
Wizard Lord Phoenix's Lava Phoenix breath damage type changed from Normal to Fire
42.0
“
Wizard is feeling effective across the board with nice use cases across each path so there was hesitation about making changes. Nevertheless we felt there were important changes here with DoT in mind, so there’s now new scaling on the Dragon’s Breath attack improving damage over time on higher upgrades and a for-fun change to the projectile count assisting in spreading flames to many targets. We understand we are affecting current balance but it’s done in the name of fun and for Wizard fans.
”
~ Ninja Kiwi
Wizard Lord Phoenix attack damage over time increased 1 → 10
Wizard Lord Phoenix flame projectile count 1 → 3
Wizard Lord Phoenix attack damage reduced from 6 → 2
Wizard Lord Phoenix pierce reduced from 50 → 15
Bug Fixes and General Changes[]
This section is incomplete. You can help by expanding it.
3.0
Wizard Monkey #/5/# Wizard Lord Phoenix should no longer lock itself from being purchased again if sold under certain situations
Wizard Monkey #/5/# Wizard Lord Phoenix will no longer crash the game if redeployed while the ability is active
Wizard Monkey #/5/# Wizard Lord Phoenix’s ability icon should no longer disappear until the ability wears off
Extra Notes (Version History)[]
Bugs[]
Before the 2.0.0 update, another Wizard Lord Phoenix could have been placed and upgraded while the other was in phoenix form making many clones of the phoenix itself.
There is a bug where a building on High Finance would destroy the active Wizard Lord Phoenix's phoenix form.
There is a bug when testing personal challenges. If the player enters a round with the Wizard Lord ability still active, lose that round and replay the round, the ability will be deactivated while the flame rune is still there. The rune will seem to "face" to the target bloons and attack just like a normal Wizard Lord. Reactivating the ability will make it normal again.
If placed on water with Snowstorm, the Phoenix that is spawned will have ice under it.
In version 12.1, the player could not gain the 2TC Achievement by using a Wizard Lord Phoenix as one of the 2 towers. This was likely because Wizard Lord Phoenix counted as two towers: the base tower and the phoenix. This bug was fixed on version 17.0.
There was a bug in Version 17.0 where the Wizard Lord Phoenix's regular phoenix disappears once the Wizard Lord Phoenix's main ability had expired. Interestingly enough, the transformed phoenix would still turn into the regular phoenix when quitting and rejoining a saved game. This was fixed in Version 17.1, but now the regular phoenix remains on the map always, regardless of whether the ability is active or not.
If the Wizard Lord Phoenix is given enough speed buffs (Homeland Defense, Jungle Drums, Stronger Stimulant, True Sun God with support sacrifices and maxed out Ultraboost ability at a minimum), activating the ability will spawn 2 phoenixes.
Sounds[]
When activating Wizard Lord Phoenix Ability:
[Phoenix transformation]
When a fireball explodes:
[explosion]
[explosion]
[explosion]
[explosion]
[explosion]
When deploying a Wall of Fire blaze:
[flame ignition]
[flame ignition]
[flame ignition]
[flame ignition]
[flame ignition]
Gallery[]
In-game model
The Wizard Lord's ability while active
Lava Phoenix
Lava Phoenix from behind
Both Wizard Lord and Phoenix dissapearing to merge into Phoenix Lord
Wizard Lord Phoenix's permanent Phoenix, Version 11.0 update additon.
Wizard Lord Phoenix new flame particles in Version 17.0
Transformed WLP as of Version 17.1, with the regular phoenix too
2 phoenixes, caused by giving the Wizard Lord Phoenix most speed buffs
1-5-0 Wizard Lord Phoenix shooting flames over walls due to Dbreath attack
Two phoenixes from WLP, via pre-activating Summon Phoenix ability prior to upgrading
Prior to Version 8.0, with the nerfs to income-related abilities, Wizard Lord Phoenix was the only Tier 5 tower to have an initial cooldown regardless of whether its previous upgrade's ability was in cooldown or not.
0-5-0 Wizard Lord Phoenix is actually cheaper than a 5-0-0 Apache Prime, costing roughly $67,660 on Hard compared to 5-0-0 Apache Prime's $74,790 pricetag on the same difficulty. It is also slightly more expensive than a 0-5-0 Plasma Monkey Fan Club, which costs roughly $63,600 on Hard.
In terms of entire BTD6 history, Wizard Lord Phoenix is considered the most buffed upgrade, initially starting off as an extremely expensive ability with the power of only a few phoenixes but later gaining a much stronger ability plus a permanent normal phoenix and major stat boosts for its alternate attacks.
Super Mines has also been buffed hugely, receiving overhauls in speed buffs and damage buffs, minor price buffs, and added mini-explosions. However, Wizard Lord Phoenix still has received a much larger damage output relative to its price, while Super Mines is much more expensive than Wizard Lord Phoenix.