- Not to be confused with Hot Shot, a Monkey Buccaneer upgrade.
| “ | Shoots superhot tacks that do extra damage and can pop Lead Bloons. | ” |
| ~ In-game description |
Hot Shots is the Tier 3 upgrade of Path 1 for the Tack Shooter in Bloons TD 6. Along with allowing the Tack Shooter to pop Frozen and Lead Bloons, each tack now deals 2 damage instead of 1 and increases attack speed by +25%, for every 0.63s per volley. Due to the fact that it deals physical damage, it can still pop Purple Bloons, unlike its succeeding upgrades, Ring of Fire and Inferno Ring.
This upgrade costs $510 on Easy, $600 on Medium, $650 on Hard, and $720 on Impoppable.
Description[]
Overview[]
Hot Shots
This upgrade changes all pink elements of the Tack Shooter to gold-yellow. Its silver-colored barrels are replaced with black ported barrels, and its black dart pattern on top is replaced with an orange flame pattern. Its base is now a single cylinder ring instead of two distinct cylinders. Both the base ring and top ring have dimples around it.
Crosspathing modifies the appearance of the Hot Shots. Path 2 crosspathing adds gear-like protrusions to the top of the tower and claw-like extensions to the base, whilst also raising the entire tower. Path 3 crosspathing adds extra barrels to accommodate the extra numbers of hot tacks per shot; More Tacks adds 2 extra barrels, or 4 with Even More Tacks.
Hot Shots deals 2 damage per tack and gains Normal type, able to pop any bloon type, and attacks faster.
Targeting Priorities[]
Hot Shots shoots a spray of projectiles in an radial spray. Technically, the Tack Shooter is locked on the Close targeting priority. However, for simplicity reasons, Hot Shots has no targeting priorities.
Full Popology[]
Statistics[]
- Updated as of Version 39.2
- Base stats
- Tacks:
- Projectile, normal type, 8 per shot, 23 range, 0.63s attack cooldown, 2 damage, 1 pierce.
- Crosspathing interactions
- 3-1-0:
- Base range increased to 27 (+4).
- 3-2-0:
- Base range increased to 31 (+4) and gains an extra +1 pierce.
- 3-0-1:
- Fires 10 tacks per volley instead of 8.
- 3-0-2:
- Fires 12 tacks per volley instead of 10 from the previous 3-0-1.
- Monkey Knowledge interactions
Fast Tack Attacks: Tack Shooter attack speed increased by 8%.- Increased Lifespan: Projectiles shot from Tack Shooter have increased lifespan.
- Come On Everybody!: Primary towers attack 5% faster if all are below tier 3, and cost 5% less if all are tier 3 or 4.
- 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/Primary
- Updated as of Version 27.3
- Base attack(s)
- Tacks:
- Normal
- Orbital Spray (8)
- Straight Attack
- Extra Damage (2)
Costs[]
- Updated as of Version 42.0. Listed prices exclude external buffs, any sacrifices, and Monkey Knowledge.
| [Module | Data] | Purchase | Sell | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Costs | Easy | Medium | Hard | Impoppable | Easy | Medium | Hard | Impoppable |
| Upgrade (3-X-X) | $510 | $600 | $650 | $720 | - | |||
| Total (3-0-0) | $1,130 | $1,330 | $1,435 | $1,595 | $791 | $931 | $1,005 | $1,117 |
| Crosspath (3-1-0) | $1,215 | $1,430 | $1,545 | $1,715 | $851 | $1,001 | $1,082 | $1,201 |
| Crosspath (3-2-0) | $1,405 | $1,655 | $1,790 | $1,985 | $984 | $1,159 | $1,253 | $1,390 |
| Crosspath (3-0-1) | $1,215 | $1,430 | $1,545 | $1,715 | $851 | $1,001 | $1,082 | $1,201 |
| Crosspath (3-0-2) | $1,300 | $1,530 | $1,655 | $1,835 | $910 | $1,071 | $1,159 | $1,285 |
This upgrade's prices (or included crosspath's prices) are affected by the following MK: 
Better Sell Deals
Strategy[]
Summary[]
Hot Shots is a low-cost method of providing high damage within short range. Compared to other upgrades, Hot Shots can pop any visible bloon type, and it deals extra damage to all bloon types. While not the most cost-effective method, spamming 3-0-2 Hot Shots with Primary Mentoring and Gwendolin is a decent option for inflicting high damage for the early mid-game until the early late-game, while saving enough money for more powerful upgrades.
Tips[]
- Generally speaking, 3-2-0 has more generalistic value, as the Super Range Tacks upgrade gives each tack extra pierce, doubling the popping power and increasing range. A 3-0-2 has a single-target advantage but has less range and poor pierce, although buffs like Primary Mentoring and Gwendolin easily compensate those issues.
- Hot Shots is generally better against MOAB-class bloons compared to the succeeding upgrade Ring of Fire. However, Ring of Fire uses a ring instead of individual tacks and inflicts more damage per fire blast.
- For single-target damage, a 3-0-2 Hot Shots does slightly more single-target damage per second than a 2-0-3 Tack Sprayer if no tower buffs or bloon debuffs are present.
- Assuming all tacks hit the target, a 3-0-0 Hot Shots has 25.40 DPS (1 shot/0.63s * 8 tack/shot * 2 damage/tack), whereas 4-0-0 RoF has 15.87 DPS (1 shot/0.315s * 1 ring/shot * 5 damage/ring). Adding Even More Tacks increases 3-0-2 Hot Shots to 38.10 DPS and 4-0-2 RoF to 22.22 DPS.
- The only stipulation to the DPS to single-targets is if all Hot Shots tacks hit the target, as RoF has no trouble with just hitting a target that is within its range.
Version History[]
Balance Changes[]
Tiny buff due to the base Tack Shooter attack speed buff. It was also unaffected by an Even Faster Shooting speed nerf, indirectly buffing the Hot Shots.
- 7.0
- Attack speed increased (0.72s → 0.63s), as a result of the base Tack Shooter attack speed buff
- 36.0
| “ | Tack Shooter lacks any significant crosspathing choice due to the overwhelmingly large rate increase from top path making it almost always too good an option, we are reducing this crosspath rate benefit but moving that amount back up to the T3. | ” |
| ~ Ninja Kiwi |
- Indirect buff, as Even Faster Shooting attacks slower without changing Hot Shots. Hot Shots now attacks +25% faster (0.80x cooldown multiplier) than the 2-x-x.
Bug Fixes and General Changes[]
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Extra Notes (Version History)[]
- The Version 7.0 buff to Red Hot Rangs is likely inspired by this upgrade. In fact, the new Red Hot Rangs design was exactly like the original Hot Shots until Version 36.0, when Hot Shots gained an extra benefit of its own.
- Until Version 36.0, Hot Shots was the only Path 1 upgrade of the Tack Shooter not to increase attack speed of the Tack Shooter.
Gallery[]
Official artwork[]
Projectiles[]
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Trivia[]
- Hot Shots is the latest iteration of the successor of a maximized lower-tier speed upgrade. The BTD3 Blade Shooter and BTD5 Tack Sprayer both are direct successors of speed upgrades.
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