Hydra Rocket Pods (BTDB2)

BTDB2

“	Shoots depleted bloontonium missiles that can damage all Bloon types and trigger multiple explosions.	”
	^{~ BTDB2 description}

Scratching hydra — 0-3-2 Hydra scratching head

Double hydra — Two 2-3-0 Hydra Rocket Pods

Hydra explode — Hydra Rocket Pods exploding onto bloons, one 0-3-0, one 0-3-2

Hydra Rocket Pods is the 3rd upgrade on Path 2 of the Dartling Gunner in Bloons TD Battles 2. Functionally, is similar to its BTD6 counterpart, with many statistical differences. In general, it is an overall lower-costing multi-explosive piercing powerhouse but has a lower potential for synergetic value.

The missiles themselves have extra pierce due to inheriting bonus pierce from the base Dartling. While the upgrade cost itself is higher, the collective costs of Hydra Rocket Pods are still less than in BTD6. The missile itself has 7 pierce (+3 with 0-3-2), while each explosion has 6 pierce (+3 with 0-3-2). Generated explosions consume 2 pierce from the missile, allowing up to 3 explosions (or 5 with 0-3-2) per missile. To get rid of extreme synergy with Berserker Brew and Stronger Stimulant, the missiles from Hydra Rocket Pods cannot accept external pierce buffs, capping the number of explosions.

It costs $5,600, and is unlocked with the purchase of Dartling Gunner.

Costs[]

Updated as of Version 3.1.1

Upgrade or Crosspath	Cost	Sellback (70%)
Upgrade Cost (x-3-x)	$5,600	$3920
Total Cost (0-3-0)	$7,150	$5005
Total Cost (1-3-0)	$7,400	$5180
Total Cost (2-3-0)	$8,150	$5705
Total Cost (0-3-1)	$7,300	$5110
Total Cost (0-3-2)	$8,100	$5670

Strategy[]

Summary[]

Hydra Rocket Pods is a powerful option for taking down grouped bloons efficiently, albeit very expensive. At the right positioning, aiming such that all explosions hit along straight lines, Hydra Rocket Pods reliably takes down grouped bloons including large groups of Grouped Zebras, thanks to the multiple explosions per shot that also pop Black properties. However, unless affected by a damage buff such as Alchemist’s Berserker Brew or Stronger Stimulant, a solo Hydra Rocket Pods falls short to giant waves of Regrow Rainbows and groups of Fortified Ceramics.

The main use case for Hydra Rocket Pods is to excel against the 10's rounds, defending against up to moderate-sized rushes including Leads and Rainbows. Despite its high cost, it still needs support against very dense and high-HP rushes. An easy counter to this is upgrading into Rocket Storm for its ability, or buffing with damage enhancers such as Benjamin's Biohack (or DJ Benjamin's Good Vibes) or Berserker Brew.

Tips[]

1-3-0 is more reliable at specific spots and hence generally the better option, while 2-3-0 is mainly for slightly more single-target damage, including MOABs. 0-3-2 offers a large pierce boost, but it does not utilize the multiple explosions mechanic as efficiently unless aimed very close to the track.
Hydra Rocket Pods struggles against single targets with high health, as the rocket projectile creates more explosions with more bloons, making it easily countered by MOAB-class bloons.
Alchemist buffs such as Berserker Brew increase reliability of Hydra's multiple explosions, making it more suitable for wiping out stronger regular bloon sends.
Players relying on Hydra Rocket Pods for bloon damage may use Rocket Storm as a counter to mid-game rushes such as masses of Regrow Rainbows.
While the cheapest lead-popping Dartling is one with Hydra Rocket Pods, it is often cheaper and more efficient to go for an alternate lead-popper first, such as a Hot Shot Buccaneer, Alchemist, or Ezili, prior to Hydra Rocket Pods. However, it is still possible to get a Hydra Rocket Pods safely on Round 10 without needing to stop income growth.
It may be helpful to hold onto the money and bait an opponent to rush first. However, be sure to use quick reflexes to upgrade to Hydra and correctly target it during the rush.
Even if Hydra cannot boost numbers of explosions via pierce buffs, it still pairs well with Gwendolin, with the +1 pierce helping out destroy rushes more effectively.

Version History[]

Hydra Rocket Pods has become meta in Version 1.0.4 and 1.0.5 due to Dartling's price cuts and base pierce increase, and even more because of a bug with 2-3-0's Laser Shock effect stacking (the stacking is not listed here, rather listed on this article). Hydra Rocket Pods also appears to let its explosions benefit off the Laser Shock upgrade instead of just each missile projectile. This made 2-3-0 Hydra Rocket Pods able to defend against infinite Regrow Rainbows. It has since stabilized in popularity after the bugs that enabled this were patched, although still quite oppressive against regular bloons when paired with a supporting tower. Hydra Rocket Pods remains the most popular mid-game Dartling upgrade when using Dartling for mid-game damage.

Popular usage with Hydra Rocket Pods with damage-boosting buffs, such as Benjamin / DJ Ben and Berserker Brew has allowed Hydra to excel against R11-16 rushes.

Hydra + Alch combo became prominent in Version 2.0, as a popular mid-game excel that was essentially unrushable till R18 once obtained, often next paired with Ninja for late-game value. Since 2.0.4, pierce buff interactions with missiles themselves were removed as a slight nerf to that combo.

Initial release (compared to BTD6 during Version 28.0)

2-3-0 Hydra Rocket Pods explosions now applies Laser Shock and the special +1 damage to shocked bloons, instead of just the missile projectile itself
[bug] 2-3-0 Hydra Rocket Pods explosions apply Laser Shock more than once.

1.0.4

Hydra Rocket Pods base missile pierce increased (7 → 8). Does not affect base explosions, which are left at 6 (9 with 0-3-2). 0-3-2 missile pierce increased (10 -> 11).

1.0.6

[bugfix] 2-3-0 Hydra Rocket Pods explosions no longer apply Laser Shock more than once

1.1.1

Hydra Rocket Pods cost increased ($5,250 → $5,600)

1.4.0

Hydra Rocket Pods base missile pierce decreased (8 → 7). Does not affect base explosions, which are left at 6. 0-3-2 missile is left at 11 pierce.
0-3-2 Hydra Rocket Pods explosion pierce increased (9 → 10).

1.5.0

No longer requires 2,500 XP to unlock. Players who have unlocked this upgrade before the update will not receive a full refund.

2.0.4

Hydra Rocket Pods missiles no longer accept external pierce buffs, meaning that external pierce buffs will no longer increase the number of explosions per missile. External pierce buffs still can affect explosions themselves.

“	Hydra Rocket Pods paired with an alchemist buff has recently stood out as a particularly effective tower combination, therefore we decided to specifically nerf their interaction. We didn’t feel that Hydro Rocket Pods on its own needed changing, but it was just very strong with Alchemist because it essentially received two lots of pierce buffs (with both the explosions and the missiles getting buffed). Furthermore, we reduced Laser Shock’s cost to make it a more viable early game option, and [...]	”
	^{~ Ninja Kiwi, referring to Hydra + Alch interactions, plus 2-x-x due to 2-3-0 viability}

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

At the time when Hydra Rocket Pods got directly nerfed in price, an entire 0-3-0 Hydra Rocket Pods in terms of collective costs is $175 less than its BTD6 counterpart before BTD6 Version 33.0. That would be $7125 instead of $7300.
The closest gap of 0-3-0 Hydra Rocket Pods that match the BTDB2 variant with its BTD6 counterpart on the same date would be comparing BTDB2 Version 1.3.1 Hydra Rocket Pods ($7250) and BTD6 Version 31.2 ($7300), at a mere $50 difference.
Hydra Rocket Pods' multiple explosions could formerly produce a very loud sound effect, since the production of multiple explosions at once would stack sound effects together. The volume of that sound effect was decreased on Version 1.9.2, along with Rubber to Gold's goldifying potions.