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BTD6

Hard thorns can pop 2 bloons each and pop any Bloon type.
~ In-game description

Hard Thorns is the first upgrade of Path 1 for the Druid in Bloons TD 6. This upgrade increases pierce of each thorn by +1, from 1 to 2, and allows all attacks to pop Frozen Bloons and Lead Bloons. Affected alternate attacks include Druid of the Jungle aftervines and Spirit of the Forest on-track vines.

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

Description[]

Overview[]

Placeholder other

Hard Thorns

The Druid now holds a wooden spear in his left hand. In the upgrade portrait, his mouth is slightly open. It also tints the thorn projectiles purple. Hard Thorns adds extra pierce to the thorns and allows all its sharpened attacks to pop frozen and lead.

Targeting Priorities[]

Hard Thorns targets bloons using the standard targeting priorities. It shoots straight movement projectiles in a shotgun spray.

  • 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.

Costs[]

Updated as of Version 41.0. Listed prices exclude external buffs, any sacrifices, and Monkey Knowledge.
[Module | Data] Purchase Sell
Costs Easy Medium Hard Impoppable Easy Medium Hard Impoppable
Upgrade (1-X-X) $295 $350 $380 $420 -
Total (1-0-0) $635 $750 $810 $900 $445 $525 $567 $630
Crosspath (1-1-0) $845 $1,000 $1,080 $1,200 $592 $700 $756 $840
Crosspath (1-2-0) $1,140 $1,350 $1,460 $1,620 $798 $945 $1,022 $1,134
Crosspath (1-0-1) $720 $850 $920 $1,020 $504 $595 $644 $714
Crosspath (1-0-2) $975 $1,150 $1,245 $1,380 $683 $805 $872 $966

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

Strategy[]

Summary[]

Usually, its main use is for the early-game, although Hard Thorns crosspath can be useful in a few cases where there is a lack of external pierce buffs available. If lead-popping is unavailable then this upgrade can help make up for this limitation.

Tips[]

  • It is a useful early-game option for countering grouped bloons with Druids.
  • When paired with Thorn Swarm, the 1-1-0 Druid becomes an effective option against early grouped and spaced bloons.
  • However, with Obyn Greenfoot and the HotMagicIcon Hot Magic MK, this upgrade is only going to be really useful for popping Leads.
  • Set the targeting to Last to thin out as many of the stronger early-game bloons as possible.
  • Crosspath with Avatar of Wrath and support it with external camo detection to allow it to easily handle DDTs.

Version History[]

Balance Changes[]

Hard Thorns has been changed to also grant lead-popping instead of only frozen-popping. As a result, some changes were made to some crosspaths to enforce Hard Thorns as a lead-popping option. This has also lead to this crosspath being reinforced as a crosspath specific to popping of all bloon types, also adding a price increase to reinforce its generalistic value across all stages of the games when compared to Thorn Swarm.

28.0
As an underused crosspath on this tower, Druid's Hard Thorns will now allow them to counter all of its weaknesses instead of just frozen targets. [...]
~ Ninja Kiwi
28.2
32.0
More needed crosspath reworking for the new 1xx Hard Thorns upgrade, as it now upgrades the druid from sharp to normal damage it doesn't make sense for the track brambles on 030 to not require this crosspath for lead popping. [...]
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • NERF Hard Thorns is now required for Druid of the Jungle's aftervine to deal Normal damage.
41.0
Hard Thorns is useful and often taken for crosspath even if not going for 2xx as lightning is comparatively very expensive for what it offers so moving Thunder's cost out into both the surrounding upgrades.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • NERF Hard Thorns price increased from $250 to $350

Bug Fixes and General Changes[]

28.0 (?)
  • Change Updated upgrade description portion of bloon-popping from "Frozen Bloons" to "all".

Gallery[]

Official artwork[]

Projectiles[]

Trivia[]

  • Hard Thorns sort of resembles the Intense Magic upgrade for the Monkey Apprentice, as it improves pierce of the Apprentice's magical bolts, just like Hard Thorns improving pierce of each thorn.
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