Laser Cannon (BTD6)

Pre-BTD6

BTD6

BTDB2

Laser Cannon

General Information

Game

Bloons TD 6

Tower

Dartling Gunner

Unlocked at

2,600 XP

Cost

$2,550 (Easy)
$3,000 (Medium)
$3,240 (Hard)
$3,600 (Impoppable)

Activated Ability

N/A

Targeting Options

Normal,
Locked

Camo Detection

Restricted (requires 3-1-0)

Popology

Damage Type(s)

Energy

Single Projectile

Aim-Based Mobility

Full Range

Erratic Movement

Extra Damage

Laser Shock

Statistics

Damage

2

Pierce

6 (laser, e.a.u.)

Attack Speed

Very Fast (every 0.2s, e.a.u.)

Range

Infinite (laser, e.a.u.)

Status Effects

Laser Shock (1 damage / 1.0s and takes +1 damage from Dartling Gunners with Laser Shock for 2.0s)

Tower Boosts

N/A

Income/Life Boosts

N/A

Path Upgrades

← Previous

Current

Next →

Laser Shock

Laser Cannon

Plasma Accelerator

Path Info

Path

Upgrade Tier

1

3

[Source]

“	Rapidly fires much more powerful laser blasts that can pop Frozen Bloons, and deal increased MOAB damage.	”
	^{~ In-game description}

Laser Cannon is the third upgrade of Path 1 for the Dartling Gunner in Bloons TD 6. It increases the Dartling Gun's pierce from 1 to 6 (9 with Powerful Darts), deals 2 damage, and an extra +2 to MOAB-class, and converts the main attack to the energy damage type (can pop Frozen Bloons but can no longer pop Purple Bloons without support). In addition, the Laser Shock effect lasts for 2 seconds instead of just 1 second, and projectile speed increases greatly. Random projectile deviation remains at a 9.6° cone. Projectile speed increases from 350 to 500 (620 with 3-0-2).

This upgrade costs $2,550 on Easy, $3,000 on Medium, $3,240 on Hard, and $3,600 on Impoppable.

Description[]

Overview[]

Laser Cannon dramatically alters the appearance of the gun and the monkey, with the gun being replaced with a three-pronged laser emitter in matte black, including the base of the gun, with a gold ring halfway down, and the gold handle remaining. The monkey's helmet is also painted red, and they gain a pair of green goggles that cover their eyes.

Crosspathing with path 2 converts the metal rings from gold to purple, then the main emitter from black to green. Crosspathing with path 3 mounts the gun on a tripod with a silvery metal ring, then paints that ring blue while adding two yellow stripes down the side of the helmet.

Laser Cannon deals 2 damage, and +2 to MOAB-class, pierces up to 6 bloons, and converts the Dartling's projectiles from Sharp to the Energy damage type, popping Frozen Bloons but not Purple Bloons. It also improves the Laser Shock, causing it to last 2 seconds; this improved shock can stack with any other Laser Shock, but can only be activated by Laser Cannons and higher. With Powerful Darts, it gains +3 pierce (for 9) and +50% projectile size (for 3).

Targeting Priorities[]

Laser Cannon customly aims based on direction and angle of where the Dartling points towards. It shoots straight movement projectiles controlled in a aim-based mobile style guided by touch-based mobility, albeit with slight amounts of erratic angular deviation.

Normal: Rotates towards the direction of where the player last tapped. On desktop versions, always rotates towards direction of the cursor inside the game.
Locked: Locks the Dartling in place. By default, locks at center of map, but can be adjusted in the same way as a Mortar Monkey. On desktop versions, using a hotkey to switch to Locked will default to wherever the mouse currently is pointing.

Since all Dartlings already attack based on custom aim, Dartlings don't receive Camo Prioritization even with Advanced Targeting.

Full Popology[]

Updated as of Version 45.1

Base stats

Dartling persistently aims towards the pointer whenever active; aims towards where last tapped (Mobile versions) or current location of cursor inside the game window (Desktop and Console versions). Rotation speed of 180 degrees per second. Creates Laser projectiles from centre of Dartling, with 9.6° degrees deviation from the centre.
Laser:
- Projectile, energy type, 0.2s attack cooldown, 2 projectile size, 2 damage, +2 MOAB-class damage, 6 pierce. 500 projectile speed, 1.12s projectile lifespan. Applies Laser Shock status effect, dealing 1 damage every 1.0s for 2.0s, with a Laser Shock of Level 2. If reapplying Laser Shock, deals extra damage equivalent to a damage tick of the old Laser Shock and apply new Laser Shock.

Crosspathing interactions

3-1-0: Gains camo detection.
3-2-0: Attack cooldown of Laser decreased from 0.2s to 0.133s.
3-0-1: Rotation speed of Dartling increased from 180° per second to 440° per second.
3-0-2: Laser pierce increased from 6 to 9, projectile size increased from 2 to 3. Projectile speed increased from 500 to 620 but projectile lifespan from 1.12s to 0.9032258s.

Monkey Knowledge interactions

Elite Military Training: All Military Monkeys get a one-off +1000 XP and earn XP in-game 5% faster permanently.
Emergency Unlock: Unlocks special ability that boost the Dartling Gunner swivel speed for a short time.
Military Conscription: First military tower costs only ⅔ of the original cost.
- Dartling Gunner base cost from $720, $850, $920, and $1,020 → $480, $570, $615, and $685 on Easy, Medium, Hard, and Impoppable, respectively.
Advanced Logistics: All Military Monkeys base costs reduced by 5%.
- Dartling Gunner base cost from $720, $850, $920, and $1,020 → $685, $805, $875, and $970 on Easy, Medium, Hard, and Impoppable, respectively.
  - If Military Conscription is also enabled, the final cost will be $450, $535, $570, and $630.
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/Military

Updated as of Version 42.2

Base attack(s)

Laser:
- Energy
- Single Projectile
- Aim-Based Mobility
- Full Range
- Erratic Movement
- Laser Shock (1 damage / 1.0s for 2.0s)
- Extra Damage (2)
- Extra Damage to Shocked (+1)

Costs[]

Updated as of Version 51.0. 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)	$2,550	$3,000	$3,240	$3,600	-
Total (3-0-0)	$4,290	$5,050	$5,455	$6,060	$3,003	$3,535	$3,819	$4,242
Crosspath (3-1-0)	$4,500	$5,300	$5,725	$6,360	$3,150	$3,710	$4,008	$4,452
Crosspath (3-2-0)	$5,305	$6,250	$6,750	$7,500	$3,714	$4,375	$4,725	$5,250
Crosspath (3-0-1)	$4,415	$5,200	$5,615	$6,240	$3,091	$3,640	$3,931	$4,368
Crosspath (3-0-2)	$5,435	$6,400	$6,910	$7,680	$3,805	$4,480	$4,837	$5,376

This upgrade's prices (or included crosspath's prices) are affected by the following MK: Military Conscription, Advanced Logistics, Better Sell Deals

Strategy[]

Summary[]

Laser Cannon is suitable as an early mid-game option due to its decent stats and basically infinite range. It functions best on maps with straight lines so it won’t miss too many of its shots. Note that the Laser Cannon does gain increased damage and pierce, in addition to an enhanced Laser Shock effect, which combined allow it to deal high single-target damage and beat small groups of bloons, both for a rather cheap cost. Typically, it is used as a good stepping stone to Plasma Accelerator.

Tips[]

3-2-0 Laser Cannon is mostly preferred for maximum DPS and popping of Camo Bloons. This crosspath grants both camo detection and faster attack speed. Laser Cannon has decent pierce already, but with Powerful Darts it can reach its targets at further distances much sooner with increased pierce, which can make 3-0-2 Laser Cannon better than 3-2-0 Laser Cannon in some cases.
Because Laser Cannon pops neither Purples nor Leads, make sure to have support towers for those types so that Laser Cannon can struggle less against the two weaknesses.
- Effective and cheap options include low tier Ninjas and Snipers.
Compared to Hydra Rocket Pods, Laser Cannon is better at hitting single targets and is overall cheaper. It also has the option to also get Powerful Darts to pierce through more bloons per shot while still being quite accurate overall, and has the benefit of being able to be upgraded to Plasma Accelerator.

Version History[]

Balance Changes[]

Laser Cannon was initially released in BTD6 as a high-damage rapid fire attack with a lower cost and an enhanced Laser Shock effect. It got buffed in Version 31.0 to address its low pierce in comparison to other T3 upgrades of Dartling, and 34.0 buffed it again to become cheaper single-target damage.

22.0 (Compared to BTD5)

Initial release
Cost of Laser Cannon decreased ($6000 → $4250).
Laser Cannon no longer increases attack speed by 15%.
Laser Cannon has less pierce (13 → 4).
Laser Cannon deals more damage (1 → 2).
Laser Cannon now applies Laser Shock effect onto damaged bloons.

31.0

Laser Cannon base pierce increased from 4 → 6
3-0-2 Laser Cannon pierce increased from 6 → 9
3-0-2 Laser Cannon projectile size increased (2 → 3)
- [bug] Visually the projectiles don't change size.

34.0

“	Laser Cannon feels it needs a small price buff. [...]	”
	^{~ Ninja Kiwi}

Laser Cannon price reduced from $4250 to $3750

41.0

“	Laser Cannon is not a great stepping stone for Plasma Accelerator, we think these are ok though so adjusting prices between them slightly. [...]	”
	^{~ Ninja Kiwi}

Laser Cannon price reduced from $3750 to $3650

45.0

“	Since Plasma Accelerator is a heavily MOAB-Damage focussed upgrade so we want to introduce this niche somewhat better at the T3 with a little starting MOAB Damage, [...]	”
	^{~ Ninja Kiwi}

Laser Cannon now deals +2 bonus damage to MOAB-class bloons

46.0

“	Plasma Accelerator’s cost is shifting further down to improve upgrade progression. [...]	”
	^{~ Ninja Kiwi}

Laser Cannon cost decreased from $3650 to $3000

Bug Fixes and General Changes[]

This section is incomplete. You can help by expanding it.

24.0

Description changed from "Rapid fire laser blasts can pop Frozen Bloons." to "Rapidly fires much more powerful laser blasts that can pop Frozen Bloons."

45.0

Description changed from "Rapidly fires much more powerful laser blasts that can pop Frozen Bloons." to "Rapidly fires much more powerful laser blasts that can pop Frozen Bloons, and deal increased MOAB damage."

Extra Notes (Version History)[]

Gallery[]

Official artwork[]

Projectiles[]

Trivia[]

In one of the concept artworks for the BTD6 Dartling Gunner upgrade, the Laser Cannon's clothing was originally a red tight suit with goggles in a similar style to Tier 2 Glue Gunners. In turn, that clothing choice is similar to the design of the BTD5 Laser Cannon.