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Pops and freezes nearby Bloons for a short time. Frozen Bloons are immune to sharp damage. Can't freeze White, Zebra, or Lead Bloons.
~ In-game Description

Ice Monkey is a Primary-class tower in Bloons TD 6. The tower retains its role from the Bloons TD 4, 5, and Classic game generations, but has changed its name from "Ice Tower" along with other significant changes (though the tower was actually called Ice Monkey in Bloons Monkey City). Like most Primary Monkeys, the Ice Monkey was featured in a teaser prior to the game's release.

It has short range (20 units, putting it behind the Tack Shooter's 23), and its attack can freeze and pop bloons. If the bloon is damaged, the resulting bloon will freeze, temporarily stopping all movement and bloon regeneration, and gain a temporary Frozen Bloon layer, altogether lasting for 1.5s. The tower is weak against White Bloons, Zebra Bloons and Lead Bloons. Additionally, the duration of its freeze effect is 50% shorter against Ceramic Bloons until upgraded into any Tier 3 or higher upgrade. It is the slowest of the base towers, clapping out a wave of coldness every 2.4s, but possesses a relatively high pierce, freezing up to 40 bloons per freeze. Cold power improves with various upgrades, such as violent embrittling, super cold auras and widespread coldness, and converting into an ice cannoneer.

It costs $425 on Easy, $500 on Medium, $540 on Hard, and $600 on Impoppable.

Description[]

The Ice Monkey was formerly known as the Ice Tower in earlier games. Unlike previous games, it can now pop bloons as a base tower, as if it always had Snap Freeze. However, alongside already not being able to pop White and Zebra Bloons by default, it cannot freeze or pop Lead Bloons without the Cold Snap upgrade. Also, it no longer has infinite pierce, having only 40 pierce as a base tower. But because it can now pop bloons as a base tower, its base cost is increased slightly. The base Ice Monkey has white fur and blue skin, and claps every time it triggers a wave of coldness.

Path 1 is focused mostly upon weakening the bloons, making them as vulnerable by cold as possible. Permafrost slows down bloons by 50% after thawing, thereby making them more vulnerable to other towers due to the slower speeds of affected bloons. Cold Snap allows Leads to become affected by all attacks by the Ice Monkey, as well as allow camo bloon targeting. Ice Shards causes affected bloons to spawn deadly ice shards that create a chain reaction of ice shards if popped by another tower. Further Path 1 upgrades expand to increasing vulnerability of affected bloons; Embrittlement brittles affected bloons to take extra damage while frozen and even allows frozen Bloons to be damaged by sharp projectiles, while Super Brittle causes affected bloons to take even more extra damage while affected, and both affect MOAB-class Bloons.

Offshore Monkey

A super monkey placed offshore thanks to the ice monkey nearby.

Path 2 is focused more upon increasing the area effectiveness of the cold. Enhanced Freeze becomes an upgrade that both increases freeze time for affected bloons and increases attack speed of the Ice Monkey. Deep Freeze allows two layers to be soaked in cold instead of one and increases freeze duration again. Arctic Wind will slow all bloons up to Ceramic down by 40%, increasing pierce while simultaneously allowing non-water towers to be placed on water nearby the Ice Monkey. Snowstorm increases the radial Arctic Wind effect and freeze coverage, along with an ability that freezes all bloons on screen briefly. Absolute Zero further increases the freeze range, increasing Arctic Wind effect to a 60% slow down, increasing pierce again, along with enhancing the ability's freeze effects. When placed near water, an Ice Monkey with level 3 or above in this path allows other land-based monkeys to be placed offshore. A small ice sheet will appear underneath the monkey once placed.

Path 3 is focused more upon increasing the blast effects of the Ice Monkey. The first two upgrades, Larger Radius and Re-Freeze, focus on increasing range and allowing re-freezing of already frozen bloons, respectively. The further upgrades, Cryo Cannon, Icicles and Icicle Impale, are focused upon modifying the Ice Monkey into a projectile-based attack tower. Cryo Cannon changes the Ice Monkey to shoot iceballs instead of creating radial ice attacks. Icicles adds sharp icicles on affected bloons that act as Road Spikes. Icicles allows the ice monkey to attack MOAB-class bloons and Icicle Impale can slow them.

Target Priorities[]

The base Ice Monkey lacks the option to change targeting due to its zone-type main attack style, and is locked onto Close. Cryo Cannon, however, gains basic target priorities, losing its zone-type attack style in exchange for a straight movement projectile-shooting attack style, and defaults to First upon upgrading. For Cryo Cannon and above, the target priorities are as follows:

  • 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.

Snowstorm and Absolute Zero abilities have no set targeting due to their true infinite pierce and whole screen effects.

Camo Prioritization is available for the Ice Monkey if crosspathing with 2-0-3 Cryo Cannon and above.

Upgrades[]

Path 1[]

PermafrostUpgradeIcon
Permafrost
COST: $125 / $150 / $160 / $180
UNLOCK: 160 XP

Description: Bloons move slowly even after thawing out.
Effect: Slows bloons by 50% after thawing out. Lasts as many layers as the freeze does. At Tier 5, the Permafrost effect can affect blimps but by 25% instead.
MetalFreezeUpgradeIcon
Cold Snap
COST: $295 / $350 / $380 / $420
UNLOCK: 500 XP

Description: Can freeze and pop Lead Bloons and Camo Bloons.
Effect: Detects camo and can freeze and pop Lead Bloons.
IceShardsUpgradeIcon
Ice Shards
COST: $1,275 / $1,500 / $1,620 / $1,800
UNLOCK: 2,500 XP

Description: Removes Camo and Regrow properties when damaging Bloons. Razor sharp shards fly out when Frozen Bloons pop.
Effect: Bloons frozen by this Ice Monkey will each release three equally-spaced shards if popped while frozen, also taking off Camo and Regrow properties, and increases its range by 5.
EmbrittlementUpgradeIcon
Embrittlement
COST: $1,870 / $2,200 / $2,375 / $2,640
UNLOCK: 8,250 XP

Description: Can hit MOAB-class Bloons. All hit Bloons become brittle, take extra damage while frozen, and losing Lead immunity for a short time.
Effect: All bloons, including Leads and MOAB-class, will become temporarily vulnerable to damage from sharp and freezing attacks, temporarily take +1 damage, and permanently lose Camo and Regrow properties. Can target MOAB-class bloons, as well as decamo DDTs and temporarily cause DDTs to become brittle and lose their Lead properties.
SuperBrittleUpgradeIcon
Super Brittle
COST: $23,800 / $28,000 / $30,240 / $33,600
UNLOCK: 25,000 XP

Description: Bloons take huge damage while frozen including MOAB-class Bloons.
Effect: Bloons, including MOAB-class, take +4 damage if frozen, on top of previous upgrade's benefits. Popping frozen Bloons produces 6 shards per bloon instead of 3 shards, each shard now dealing 5 damage. Attacks 33% faster. Can apply Permafrost on MOAB-class bloons, at 25% slowdown to MOAB-class.

Path 2[]

EnhancedFreezeUpgradeIcon
Enhanced Freeze
COST: $190 / $225 / $245 / $270
UNLOCK: 160 XP

Description: Attacks faster and freezes for longer.
Effect: Attacks +33% faster (0.75x attack cooldown) and freezes bloons for 1.75s instead of 1.5s.
DeepFreezeUpgradeIcon
Deep Freeze
COST: $380 / $450 / $485 / $540
UNLOCK: 500 XP

Description: Increases pierce, freezes an extra layer and freeze lasts longer.
Effect: Freezes through 2 layers of Bloon and freezes bloons for 2.2s instead of 1.75s. Pierce increases from 40 to 45.
ArcticWindUpgradeIcon
Arctic Wind
COST: $2,380 / $2,800 / $3,025 / $3,360
UNLOCK: 2,500 XP

Description: Gains a super cold aura that slows Bloons and freezes water nearby.
Effect: Freeze-vulnerable bloons are slowed by 40% within range. Can freeze water in range to let land towers become placeable on water. Water can only be frozen on initial tower placement, and not for existing towers, whether they are moved to the Ice Monkey's radius or the terrain is altered to become water.
SnowstormUpgradeIcon
Snowstorm
COST: $3,230 / $3,800 / $4,105 / $4,560
UNLOCK: 8,500 XP

Description: Snowstorm Ability: Freezes all regular Bloons on screen, briefly freezes White, Zebra, and Camo, and slows MOAB-class.
Effect: Increases range from 20 to 30. Ability will freeze all bloons on screen, including White and Zebra, except Leads unless given lead-popping power. MOAB-class, White, Zebra, and Camo are frozen for only 3 seconds, while all other affected bloons are frozen for a full 6 seconds. Ability freeze soaks through 2 non-blimp layers. Has a cooldown of 30 seconds.
AbsoluteZeroUpgradeIcon
Absolute Zero
COST: $16,320 / $19,200 / $20,735 / $23,040
UNLOCK: 27,500 XP

Description: Ability is so cold it freezes all regular Bloons for longer, including White, Zebra, and Camo, slows MOAB-class longer, and greatly increases the attack speed of all Ice Monkeys for the duration.
Effect: Pierce increased from 45 to 300 and range from 30 to 40. Freezes all bloons currently on screen for a full 10 seconds, including freeze-immune. For the same duration, all Ice Monkeys attack +50% faster. Both main attack and ability soak up to 4 non-blimp layers. Reduced cooldown from 30s to 20s.

Path 3[]

LargerRadiusUpgradeIcon
Larger Radius
COST: $150 / $175 / $190 / $210
UNLOCK: 160 XP

Description: Larger freeze area.
Effect: Gains +7 range.
Re-FreezeUpgradeIcon
Re-Freeze
COST: $190 / $225 / $245 / $270
UNLOCK: 500 XP

Description: Can re-freeze Bloons that are already frozen.
Effect: Self-explanatory
CryoCannonUpgradeIcon
Cryo Cannon
COST: $1,910 / $2,250 / $2,430 / $2,700
UNLOCK: 2,500 XP

Description: Rapidly shoots smaller ice bombs over longer range.
Effect: Converts slow radial ice blasts into moderately fast-shooting snowballs. Snowball blasts deal 2 damage and freeze up to 40 bloons within a tighter 20 blast radius, but freeze duration is decreased from 1.5 seconds to 1.2 seconds. Gains +19 range over other upgrades for a total of 46.
IciclesUpgradeIcon
Icicles
COST: $2,335 / $2,750 / $2,970 / $3,300
UNLOCK: 9,000 XP

Description: Does bonus damage to MOAB-Class Bloons. Frozen Bloons grow sharp icicles that can pop Bloons that touch them.
Effect: Bloons affected by ice blasts will grow sharp icicles on top of them. Icicles deal 2 damage onto up to 3 bloons and act like spike piles. Icicles will thaw after 2 seconds. Can directly target MOAB-class bloons but not apply slowdown statuses, and deals +8 damage to MOAB-class bloons with the ice blast. Also attacks slightly faster.
IcicleImpaleUpgradeIcon
Icicle Impale
COST: $25,500 / $30,000 / $32,400 / $36,000
UNLOCK: 30,000 XP

Description: Shoots huge icicle spikes that do huge damage to MOAB-Class Bloons and freezes them.
Effect: Ice blasts deal 50 damage to MOAB-class bloons and can freeze them. Attacks +33% faster.

Total Costs[]

Easy:

Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3 Tier 4 Tier 5
Path 1
Base Cost 125 295 1,275 1,870 23,800
Cumulative Cost 510 805 2,080 3,950 27,750
Base Sell 59.5 206.5 892.5 1,309 16,660
Cumulative Sell 357 906,5 1,456 2,765 19,425
Path 2
Base Cost 190 380 2,380 3,230 16,320
Cumulative Cost 615 910 3,375 5,925 22,925
Base Sell 133 206.5 1725.5 1,785 11,900
Cumulative Sell 430.5 637 2,362.5 4,147.5 16,047.5
Path 3
Base Cost 150 190 1,910 2,335 25,500
Cumulative Cost 575 765 2,420 4,755 30,255
Base Sell 105 133 1,158.5 1,634.5 17,850
Cumulative Sell 402.5 535.5 1,694 3,328.5 21,178.5

Medium:

Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3 Tier 4 Tier 5
Path 1
Base Cost 100 350 1,500 2,200 28,000
Cumulative Cost 600 950 2,450 4,650 32,650
Base Sell 70 245 1,050 1,540 19,600
Cumulative Sell 420 665 1,715 3,255 22,855
Path 2
Base Cost 225 350 2,900 3,000 20,000
Cumulative Cost 725 1,075 3,975 6,975 26,975
Base Sell 157.5 245 2,030 2,100 14,000
Cumulative Sell 507.5 752.5 2,782.5 4,882.5 18,882.5
Path 3
Base Cost 175 225 1,950 2,750 30,000
Cumulative Cost 675 900 2,850 5,600 35,600
Base Sell 122.5 157.5 1,365 1,925 21,000
Cumulative Sell 472.5 630 1,995 3,920 24,920

Hard:

Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3 Tier 4 Tier 5
Path 1
Base Cost 110 380 1,620 2,375 30,240
Cumulative Cost 650 1,030 2,650 5,025 35,265
Base Sell 77 266 1,134 1,662.5 21,168
Cumulative Sell 455 721 1,855 3,517.5 24,685.5
Path 2
Base Cost 245 380 3,130 3,240 21,600
Cumulative Cost 785 1,165 4,295 7,535 29,135
Base Sell 171.5 266 2,191 2,268 15,120
Cumulative Sell 549.5 815.5 3,006.5 5,274.5. 20,394.5
Path 3
Base Cost 190 245 2,105 2,970 32,400
Cumulative Cost 730 975 3,080 6,050 38,450
Base Sell 133 171.5 1,473.5 2,079 22,680
Cumulative Sell 511 682.5 2,156 4,235 26,915

Impoppable:

Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3 Tier 4 Tier 5
Path 1
Base Cost 120 420 1,800 2,640 33,600
Cumulative Cost 720 1,140 2,940 5,580 39,180
Base Sell 84 294 1,260 1,848 23,520
Cumulative Sell 504 798 2,058 3,906 27,426
Path 2
Base Cost 270 420 3,480 3,600 24,000
Cumulative Cost 870 1,290 4,770 8,370 32,370
Base Sell 189 294 2,436 2,520 16,800
Cumulative Sell 609 903 3,339 5,859 22,659
Path 3
Base Cost 210 270 2,340 3,300 36,000
Cumulative Cost 810 1,080 3,420 6,720 42,720
Base Sell 147 189 1,638 2,310 25,200
Cumulative Sell 567 756 2,394 4,704 29,904

Strategy[]

See also: Ice Monkey (BTD6)/Strategies

Summary[]

Ice Monkey has high pierce relative to many options and freezes them, making them generally optimal for stalling utility. Many of its upgrades depend on the Ice Monkey fulfilling utility rather than DPS, with a glaring sole weakness against BADs. Also, the Ice Monkey creates Frozen Bloons, which sharp attacks can't pop, except if frozen by Embrittlement or Super Brittle upgrades, making it harmful in some cases. Most Ice Monkeys also have a weakness against MOAB-class bloons, although all Tier 4 and above Ice Monkeys plus Ice Shards are able to counteract that weakness in various ways.

Tips[]

  • Ice Monkey is advantageous against Ceramics, since it temporarily stops these high-HP bloons from progressing. However, keep in mind that base Ice Monkey and Tier 1 and 2 Ice Monkeys only freeze Ceramics for half the normal duration.
    • Permafrost has no permafrosting penalty against Ceramics, slowing them down by 50% permanently till that layer is gone.
  • It is possible to quickly place an Ice Monkey to freeze a group of bloons, especially Ceramics, but it can be a little unreliable without proper timing.

Additional Strategies[]

Monkey Knowledge[]

This section displays Monkey Knowledge that has effects on Ice Monkey and its changes when compared to one by default:

  • IcyChillIcon Icy Chill: Freeze radius slightly increased.
    • Base radius increased from x → x+3.
  • SoColdIcon So... Cold...: Ice Monkey's Permafrost upgrade slows by 60%.
    • Increases effect from 50% to 60%.
  • BigCryoBlastIcon Big Cryo Blast: Cryo Cannon gets increase blast radius.
    • Increases blast radius by approximately +5.
  • HypothermiaIcon Hypothermia: Snowstorm freezes Bloons for longer.
    • Snowstorm ability freezes bloons for 1 second longer. Also affects Absolute Zero and its global Ice Monkey buff.
  • ComeOnEverybodyIcon 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.
  • MonkeyEducationIcon Monkey Education: All Monkeys XP earn rate increased by 8%.
  • BetterSellDealsIcon Better Sell Deals: All Monkeys sell for 5% more.
    • Increases sell potency from 70% to 75%.
  • VeteranMonkeyTrainingIcon Veteran Monkey Training: All Monkeys reload time reduced by 3%.
  • GlobalAbilityCooldownsIcon Global Ability Cooldowns: All Ability cooldowns for all Monkeys reduced by 3%.

Version History[]

Differences Between BTD5 and BTD6[]

Listed are comparisons of the Ice Monkey in BTD6 compared to BTD5. Takes into account Flash and Mobile versions.

  • BUFF Ice Monkey now automatically has Snap Freeze for all upgrades.
  • NERF Ice Monkey can no longer pop or freeze Lead Bloons by default without Cold Snap or other lead-popping
  • NERF Cost of Ice Monkey has increased ($300 → $500).
  • Change Enhanced Freeze no longer adds extra range, but adds extra attack speed.
  • NERF Ice Monkey base pierce is no longer infinite.
  • NERF Ice Monkey Tiers 0-2 now only freeze Ceramics for half duration.
  • NERF Arctic Wind no longer grants extra range.
  • Change Arctic Wind slowdown decreased (66% (75% in Mobile and Steam) → 40%), but cost a lot less ($6,500 -> $2,800)
  • NERF Arctic Wind now requires "Cold Snap" to slowdown Lead Bloons
  • BUFF Arctic Wind now allows you to place land towers on water.
  • NERF Absolute Zero no longer permanently slows down MOAB-class bloons.
  • Change Absolute Zero costs more ($2,000 → $19,200) and only one can be on the map at any time, but freeze duration is longer (??? -> 10s), and temporarily buffs attack speed of all Ice Monkeys on screen.
  • BUFF Absolute Zero has an stronger slowdown effect on MOAB-class bloons.
  • BUFF After thawing out, Absolute Zero slows MOAB-Class Bloons by a greater amount than in BTD5 (50% → 60%).
  • BUFF Permafrost now is applied to MOAB-class affected by Absolute Zero ability
  • Change Snowstorm (functionally similar Absolute Zero from BTD5) now freezes all bloons on screen with shorter duration versus White, Camo, and MOAB-class. Can freeze White and Zebra but not Lead without Cold Snap.
  • NERF Snowstorm (functionally similar Absolute Zero from BTD5) no longer applies a Permafrost effect on MOAB-class even when given the Permafrost upgrade.
  • NERF Ice Shards now requires other towers or Re-Freeze to spawn shards, as it cannot pop Frozen by default.
  • NERF Ice Shards now spawns 3 shards per bloon instead of 5 shards.
  • BUFF Ice Shards pierce increased (1 → 3).
  • BUFF Ice Shards damage increased (1 → 2).
  • BUFF Ice Shards now costs less ($2,000 → $1,500).
  • Change Several changes in path placement of the upgrades; some upgrades are moved to different paths.

Balance Changes[]

Initial release (compared to BTD5)

Note: Lists all balance changes implemented for the Ice Monkey when it was first released in Bloons TD 6 (June 14th 2018) in comparison to Bloons TD 5. Takes into account Flash and Mobile versions of Bloons TD 5.

  • BUFF Ice Monkey now automatically has Snap Freeze for all upgrades.
  • NERF Ice Monkey can no longer pop or freeze Lead Bloons by default without Metal Freeze or other lead-popping grants.
  • NERF Cost of Ice Monkey has increased ($300 → $500).
  • Change Enhanced Freeze no longer adds extra range, but adds extra attack speed.
  • NERF Ice Monkey base pierce is decreased to 30 for all upgrades.
  • NERF Arctic Wind no longer grants extra range.
  • NERF Arctic Wind slowdown decreased (66% → 50%).
  • BUFF Arctic Wind now allows you to place land towers on water.
  • NERF Absolute Zero no longer permanently slows down MOAB-class bloons.
  • NERF Absolute Zero costs more ($2,000 → $32,000) and only one can be on the map at any time.
  • BUFF Absolute Zero briefly freezes MOAB-Class Bloons, instead of just slowing them down.
  • BUFF After thawing out, Absolute Zero slows MOAB-Class Bloons by a greater amount than in BTD5 (50% → 60%).
  • NERF Ice Shards now requires other towers to spawn shards, as it cannot pop Frozen by default.
  • NERF Ice Shards now spawns 3 shards per bloon instead of 5 shards.
  • BUFF Ice Shards pierce increased (1 → 3).
  • BUFF Ice Shards now costs less ($2,000 → $1,500).
  • Change Several changes in path placement of the upgrades; some upgrades are moved to different paths.
1.5
  • BUFF Super Brittle no longer makes Lead Bloons invincible for no reason.
2.0
  • BUFF Ice Monkey base pierce increased (30 → 40).
  • BUFF Arctic Wind main attack pierce increased (30 → 100).
  • BUFF Cryo Cannon pierce increased (20 → 100).
  • BUFF Snowstorm freeze duration increased (5 seconds → 8).
  • BUFF Snowstorm ability can now freeze MOAB-class bloons for 3 seconds.
  • BUFF Absolute Zero base pierce increased (30 → 300) and base freeze duration greatly increased (TBA seconds → TBA).
  • BUFF Absolute Zero ability freeze duration greatly increased to non-MOAB-Class bloons (4 seconds → 10 seconds).
  • NERF Absolute Zero ability slow-down duration reduced to MOAB-Class Bloons (TBA seconds → TBA seconds).
  • NERF Icicle Impale no longer pops Lead without Metal Freeze.
3.0
  • BUFF Embrittlement now can allow other towers to damage Ceramic Bloons frozen by this upgrade.
  • NERF Snowstorm with Permafrost can no longer apply Permafrost to MOAB-class bloons.
  • BUFF Icicle Impale can now freeze and pop White and Zebra Bloons.
4.0
  • Change Cryo Cannon now defaults to First instead of Close upon purchase.
  • BUFF Cryo Cannon can now be targeted freely, instead of being locked on its initial setting.
7.0
  • BUFF Arctic Wind price reduced ($6,500 → $5,000).
  • BUFF Snowstorm base attack radius increased (20 → 30).
  • BUFF Absolute Zero price reduced ($32,000 → $26,000).
  • BUFF Absolute Zero base attack radius increased (20 → 40).
  • BUFF Absolute Zero base wind slowing increased (50% → 60%).
8.0
  • Ice Monkeys now can pop lead with Acidic Mixture Dip.
12.0
  • BUFF Arctic Wind cost reduced from $5,000 to $3,200.
  • NERF Snowstorm cost increased from $1,800 to $3,000.
17.0
  • BUFF Permafrost can now apply to MOABs from any T5 Ice Monkey.
  • BUFF Ice Shards range increased from 20 to 25.
  • BUFF Embrittlement now gains camo detection.
  • BUFF Embrittlement now also removes camo & regrow properties from anything hit.
  • BUFF Absolute Zero attack and ability freeze +2 additional layers.
  • BUFF Absolute Zero when ability is active all Ice Monkeys gain double attack speed.
21.0
While Icicles is quite fun for midgame cleanup, we acknowledge points raised on Cryo Cannon trading off its freeze prowess too quickly when the smaller freeze area even with such a fast rate increase still overall makes it struggle to slow as effectively. To counter this a little we have doubled the freeze radius of Cryo Cannon, but also increased damage of both the Ice Balls & Icicles to highlight more the intention of this path swapping to a damage hybrid earlier.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF x-x-3 Cryo Cannon Blast Radius increased 10 → 20. Also affects subsequent upgrades.
  • BUFF x-x-3 Cryo Cannon ice ball damage increased 1 → 2. Also affects subsequent upgrades.
  • BUFF x-x-4 Icicles 'shard' damage increased 1 → 2. Also affects subsequent upgrades.
23.0
Ice Monkey power is currently too bottom heavy and mid-to-higher tiers are neglected, so some tweaks to mid-tier upgrades have been made.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF Embrittlement costs less ($3,000 → $2,200).
  • BUFF Arctic Wind costs less ($3,200 → $2,900).
  • BUFF Cryo Cannon costs less ($2,000 → $1,750).
  • BUFF Snowstorm ability cooldown decreased (60s → 30s).
  • NERF [undocumented] Absolute Zero ability now has an initial cooldown of 50% the original cooldown.
24.0
Small tweaks to the benefit of still under-utilized T5 Ice Monkey upgrades.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF Super Brittle price reduced ($30,000 → $28,000).
  • BUFF Absolute Zero ability and buff duration increased (10s → 15s).
25.0
By buffing Snowstorm to have the same cooldown as Absolute Zero we unintentionally ruined a certain style of player-made challenge based on Absolute Zero timing. We have reworked the buff from v24 in order to keep the same freeze uptime but allow this type of challenge to be possible once again.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF Absolute Zero ability cooldown reduced (30s → 20s).
  • BUFF [undocumented] Absolute Zero now has no initial cooldown instead of 10s initial cooldown.
  • NERF Absolute Zero ability duration for both freeze duration and buff decreased (15s → 10s).

Damage type changes

  • NERF As a part of the damage & types rework above, basic Ice damage can no longer damage Golden Bloons without the correct upgrades / buffs.
  • NERF [undocumented] Snowstorm ability no longer pops Lead, freeze Lead, or slows DDTs without Metal Freeze or MIB.
  • NERF [undocumented, bug] Super Brittle no longer applies +4 damage vulnerability to bloons or blimps but can still apply Permafrost effects to all bloon types.
  • BUFF [undocumented] Icicles can now apply shards onto White and Zebra Bloons but not freeze or damage them with the ice blasts.
  • NERF [undocumented] Icicle Impale can no longer freeze DDTs without gaining lead-popping power such as Metal Freeze.
  • BUFF [undocumented] Embrittlement now strips off Camo and Regrow from White and Zebra Bloons.
  • BUFF [undocumented, likely a bug] Permafrost can now apply onto Whites and Zebras regardless of upgrades or external buffs.
  • NERF [undocumented] Arctic Wind no longer slows Leads without Metal Freeze.
  • BUFF [undocumented, likely a bug] Ice Shards' "shardable" status effect now affects White and Zebra Bloons. While it doesn't actually pop them, its affect still applies; causing them to release ice shards when popped by other Monkeys.
  • NERF [undocumented, possibly a bug] Ice Shards and above now always require Re-Freeze in order to pop Frozen Bloons and therefore activate their own shards regardless of adding a nearby MIB or not. This includes Super Brittle.
  • NERF [undocumented] Embrittlement damage decreased (2 → 1).
  • NERF [undocumented, bug] Embrittlement no longer applies +1 damage vulnerability.
  • NERF [undocumented] Embrittlement no longer lets Whites or Zebras frozen without MIB even if layers were skipped in doing so.
  • BUFF [undocumented] 2-0-4 Icicles shards now pop Lead Bloons. Also applies for 2-0-5 Impale.
25.1
  • BUFF Super Brittle Ice Monkey correctly applies debuff again, including to MOAB-class
  • BUFF Embrittlement correctly allows sharp damage to pop the Frozen Bloons again
  • BUFF [bug fix] Super Brittle now applies damage vulnerability again, although only to bloons hit once again by the +4 damage vulnerability.
  • BUFF [undocumented] Embrittlement now can directly pop bloons affected by brittling effect
  • BUFF [undocumented] Embrittlement now does 2 damage to a bloon struck by the +1 damage vulnerability to bloons
27.0
Snowstorm's duration has been improved to give it more bang for its buck as an alternate option to Ninja's Bloon Sabotage, and Absolute Zero's price has been reduced to bring it more within reach for a support upgrade.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF Snowstorm duration increased from 4s -> 6s
  • BUFF Absolute Zero price reduced from $26,000 -> $20,000
  • NERF [undocumented] Arctic Wind no longers Chinook or any other placement mobility sources (e.g. Darkshift, Global Darkshift) to move towers from platform to platform.
28.0
Embrittlement being a 'camo reveal' has not been viable due to the price, so T2 Metal Freeze has been granted camo detection to allow this tower to somewhat hold off camos while it saves up to become a reveal. Additionally Embrittlement will now be able to target and debuff MOAB Bloons for the smaller damage bonus without needing to be upgraded to T5. Additionally some smaller price nerfs have been made along the lower tiers of bottom path as each of these upgrades has been standing out a little much.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF Metal Freeze can now target camo
  • NERF Metal Freeze price increased from $300 -> $350
  • Change Metal Freeze is now named "Cold Snap"
  • BUFF Embrittlement can now target and debuff MOABs but not slow them
  • NERF Larger Radius price increased from $100 -> $175
  • NERF Re-Freeze price increased from $200 -> $225
  • NERF Cryo Cannon price increased from $1750 -> $1950
  • BUFF [undocumented] Embrittlement will now decamo DDTs.
  • NERF [undocumented, possibly bugs] Embrittlement and Super Brittle's abilities to interact with other Ice Monkeys have been restricted.
    • NERF [undocumented] Embrittlement no longer can benefit from its own effects, such as its +1 damage bonus and the Brittle status, nor can it affect effects from other Embrittlement Ice Monkeys. As a result, it can no longer activate its own ice shards. Does not affect Super Brittle.
    • NERF [undocumented] Icicle Impale no longer attacks any bloons affected by an Embrittlement with Re-Freeze.
    • NERF [undocumented] Embrittlement no longer affects bloons previously affected by Icicle Impale.
    • NERF [undocumented] Super Brittle without Re-Freeze no longer attacks any bloons affected by Snowstorm or Absolute Zero.
    • NERF [undocumented] Super Brittle no longer affects bloons previously affected by Icicle Impale without Re-Freeze.
30.0
Cryo Cannon has pulled far ahead of similar cheap Bloon control options, while leading into the also quite cheap Icicles which for most of the game offers more Bloon shredding support for cheaper than those other options.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • NERF Icicles price increased from $2000 -> $2750
32.0
Ice monkey Enhanced Freeze is too good at low tiers, allowing full stunlock of ceramics for very cheap, as the fire rate increase alone of this Enhanced Freeze is a powerful addition most of the increased freeze duration has been moved up as it makes more sense to have duration with the currently less desirable T2 Deep Freeze. Permafrost was previously reduced to a lower price than we’d like to try increase desirability of this crosspath, but as the reworks to metal freeze have had more success there in pulling this path ahead we want to add a little back on here. Cryo Cannon has now been overperforming compared to any towers that perform similar roles with either of these crosspaths so is also seeing a general reduction.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • NERF Enhanced Freeze freeze duration reduced from 2.2s -> 1.75s. Deep Freeze freeze duration remains at 2.2s.
  • NERF Permafrost price increased from $100 -> $150
  • NERF Cryo Cannon attack delay increased from 1s -> 1.2s. Does not affect subsequent upgrades.
  • NERF Cryo Cannon price increased from $1950 -> $2250.
33.0
Arctic Wind hardly gets used for its actual basic intended purpose, which would be cool to see used for more than just causing ice platform bug reports.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF Arctic Wind aura slow amount increased from 50% → 60%. Also affects Snowstorm, Absolute Zero remains at 60%.
    • Note: Ninja Kiwi incorrectly listed the aura slow amount to 40%, its aura slow amount before the update was actually 50%.
34.0
Ice Monkey base pierce is too high, very easily countering large numbers of strong Bloons early, mid or late in the game for small investment, leading to very low tiers of ice monkey (below t3) being highly effective spam options over upgrading your ice. We are reworking some of this base pierce to require crosspath investment and buffing the damage Ice 3xx Ice Shards to compensate for some of its reduced pierce.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • NERF Ice Monkey pierce reduced from 40 → 30
  • NERF Cryo Cannon pierce reduced from 30 → 20
  • BUFF Deep Freeze now increases pierce by +10
  • NERF Deep Freeze price increased $350 → $450
  • BUFF Arctic Wind price reduced $2900 → $2800
  • BUFF Ice Shards base damage increased 1 → 2
  • BUFF Icicles can now target MOAB-Class Bloons but not slow them down
36.0
Arctic wind felt extremely overbuffed with the slowing field going from 40 to 50%, but we like seeing the use on it go up so we want to meet halfway on that & keep the higher slow at T5. While we like the added pierce value on x2x crosspathing, the drop of pierce on xx3 feels too large now on a tower that already had quite good crosspath balance, so we want to try out removing the pierce downgrade entirely here.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • NERF Arctic Wind and Snowstorm slow area reduced 60% → 50%. Absolute Zero remains at 60%.
  • BUFF Cryo Cannon pierce increased from 20 → 30 (just the same as base ice)
37.0
Lowest tiers of ice monkey are far too effective for their cost against ceramics, with this scaling well all the way to round 100, we feel like ice duration against ceramics needs to be reduced to counter this but for now this reduction will only apply until T3.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • NERF Tier 2 and below Ice Monkey freeze duration reduced by 50% on ceramics. All T3 Ice Monkeys increase freeze duration on ceramics back to 100%.
    • NERF x-0-x versus Ceramics: 1.5s → 0.75s
    • NERF x-1-x versus Ceramics: 1.75s → 0.875s
    • NERF x-2-x versus Ceramics: 2.2s → 1.1s
  • BUFF Cold Snap now grants Cryo Cannon with the Camo Prioritization targeting option
38.0
Plenty of attention has been drawn to the high power of Ice, so we’re continuing to work on slowly dialing this back in fair ways.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • NERF Arctic Wind and Snowstorm pierce 100 → 40
  • Change Absolute Zero pierce remains 300
    • Change Arctic Wind description changed from "Greatly increased pierce and gains a super cold aura that slows Bloons and freezes water nearby." to "Gains a super cold aura that slows Bloons and freezes water nearby."
    • Change Snowstorm description changed from "Snowstorm Ability: Freezes all regular bloons on screen, and briefly freezes White, Zebra, Camo, and slows MOAB class." to "Greatly increases pierce and gains Snowstorm Ability: Freezes all regular bloons on screen, and briefly freezes White, Zebra, Camo, and slows MOAB class."
  • NERF Cryo Cannon, Icicles and Icicle Impale has 20% shorter freeze lifespan from 1.5s → 1.2s
39.0
We’re happier with more recent freeze changes succeeding in some of the intentions of older nerfs, given the base tower value in races being hit far more than intended we’re going back over the pierce for Ice Monkey base & middle crosspath. Snowstorm continues to outshine any similar supportive options while being generally cheaper & more versatile.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF 0-0-0 Ice Monkey base pierce increased (30 → 40)
  • BUFF Cryo Cannon base pierce increased from 30 to 40. Also affects subsequent upgrades.
  • NERF Deep Freeze bonus pierce reduced (+10 → +5)
  • NERF Snowstorm price increased ($3000 → $3800)
  • BUFF Absolute Zero price reduced from ($20,000 → $19,200)
40.0
We want to try out allowing the Ice Shards sub-projectile to benefit from all sources of damage buff, as currently this path gets nice support use sometimes but can’t do much on its own in the base game - along with this the T5 Ice Shards are also generally being improved. Arctic Wind it feels was heavily underrated before it’s large slow aura increase, with so many players now working out how good it is and how much better an upgrade it leads into than any similar options we feel this aura needs to be reduced again although it will remain the same at T5.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF Ice Shards shard damage is now uncapped, allowing for external buffs
  • BUFF Super Brittle ice shards damage increased (2 → 5)
  • BUFF Super Brittle number of ice shards increased (3 → 6)
  • NERF Arctic Wind slow zone reduced (50% → 40%). Absolute Zero slow zone unchanged at 60%.
  • BUFF Icicles icicle projectile radius increased (4 → 5)
42.0
Embrittlement is cheap and balanced by its limited range and rate making it difficult to apply to very many targets with reliable frequency, however Super Brittle is far more expensive but still faces these same struggles. Feels fair for the cost to increase its attack rate further.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF Super Brittle attack cooldown reduced from 2.16s to 1.8s
44.0
Adding a lesser MOAB-Benefit to Icicles, leading into the stronger T5 Anti-MOAB capability
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF Icicles blast now deals +8 MOAB-class damage. Does not affect its icicles (2), nor Icicle Impale's blast (50).

Bug Fixes and General Changes[]

11.0
  • NERF Resolved some issues with Ice Platforms produced by x4x Ice Monkeys. Specifically, the Ice-Chinook unintentional selling strategy is currently bugged.
  • Ice Monkey should correctly freeze bloons again when buffed by Pat Fusty's Rallying Roar.
12.0
  • Change x-x-4 Ice Monkey Icicles now count towards pops counter correctly.
  • BUFF x-x-5 Icicle Impale can now pop leads while buffed by Acidic Mixture Dip.
17.0
  • Arctic Wind resolved numerous specific crashes.
  • Arctic Wind resolved numerous inconsistencies with redeploy and selling.
    • NERF Arctic Wind no longer sells towers on top of the ice water twice, if on a map where the middle pixel of the map is non-placeable land.
20.0
  • BUFF 0-0-0 Base Ice Monkey attack hitbox should allow it to hit Bloons from below the track now.
  • Change 4-x-x Embrittlement description updated to mention camo & property removal.
21.0
  • BUFF 4-x-x Embrittlement once again allows 'Sharp' damage to penetrate any Bloons frozen in the Embrittled state.
  • x-3-x Placing an Arctic Wind on top of a flagship will no longer create an ice platform on top of the buccaneer.
  • NERF x-3-x Arctic Wind no longer inconsistently slows one of two Zebra children after popping a rainbow.
22.0
  • BUFF x-x-4 Icicles now correctly inherits the radius of xx3 instead of shrinking.
24.0
  • 4-x-x Embrittlement description has been updated with more detail.
  • x-3-x Arctic Wind description has been updated with more detail.
  • x-5-x Absolute Zero description has been updated with more detail.
25.0
  • 0-2-0 Deep Freeze and higher upgrades should correctly play sound again.
26.0
  • NERF Arctic Wind will no longer retain its frozen platforms after being transformed by an Alchemist as this could cause a crash upon ability expiration
30.0
  • NERF 4xx Ice Monkey should no longer slow & remove camo from White Bloons without being able to damage them
  • BUFF 5xx Super Brittle debuff duration corrected from 2s -> 3s
  • NERF Fixed weird interactions with Arctic Wind platforms allowing towers to be placed on water with Support Chinook
  • BUFF [visual] x5x Absolute Zero now has an ability icon for the buff it grants other Ice Monkey
  • NERF x5x Absolute Zero ice monkey buff is now correctly drained by Lych
42.0
  • BUFF Resolved another arctic wind crash (polyphemus style)

Sounds[]

When placing down:

When attacking:

Gallery[]

Official artwork[]

Videos[]

Trivia[]

  • In BTD6, the unupgraded Ice Monkey has less range than an unupgraded Tack Shooter, meaning it has the smallest range out of all of the towers in the game, other than towers whose radius is purely for the sake of displaying a particular tower such as the Sniper Monkey, Monkey Ace landing bases, and Heli Pilot helipads.
  • One of the Ice Monkey freeze blast sound effects is similar to one of the fruit quench sounds when slicing fruit in the game Fruit Ninja.
  • When idle, Ice Monkeys will either scratch their butt or juggle snowballs. Ice Monkeys with at least Ice Shards, Snowstorm, or Cryo Cannon have different idle animations.
  • The Ice Monkey is one of four monkeys in the game whose fur is not brown, the others being the Druid, the Alchemist (with specific upgrades), and the Mermonkey. It is also the only one who is not a Magic tower.
  • According to Ninja Kiwi's 2nd December 2022 blog, Ice Monkeys are monkeys that enjoy living in cold places, and have adapted to live there.
  • By looking in unreleased content of BTD6, it can be implied that Ice Monkey was initially going to be a Magic Monkey instead of a Primary Monkey.[1]
    • Crosspathing any tower with an invalid crosspath would crash the game under normal circumstances (except via hacking). With some development of the Monkey Academy, the Wizards Library upgrade was planned to allow all Wizard Monkeys, Alchemists, and Druids to automatically gain all Tier 2 crosspaths. However, the Ice Monkey does not crash if given more than three crosspaths provided its other crosspaths are Tier 2 or less (e.g. 3-2-2 Ice Monkey), suggesting it was intended to be affected by Wizards Library.
    • Additionally, some of the Ice Monkey's weapons are categorized under the Magic category instead of Primary.
  • According to Ninja Kiwi's 17th February 2023 blog, Ice Monkeys wear winter gear in their upgrades for both fashion and to promote cold safety.
  • Since the Version 39.0 Mortar rework, which dropped base Mortar Monkey's pierce in exchange for damage, base Ice Monkey is now the single-highest piercing tower, at 40.

References[]