Lead-Popping Power

Bomb Shooter popping a Lead into two Black Bloons

Lead-Popping Power (sometimes referred to as lead detection) is the capability for a tower to affect Lead Bloons. This first appears in Bloons TD 2, where the Lead Bloon first appears. Explosives such as Bomb Shooters are a typical example of lead-popping power, although certain other damage types can pop lead too. Bloons Wiki depicts attacks that can affect lead with this icon: , depicted as a Lead Bloon from Bloons TD 6.

Most towers have some method of affecting Lead Bloons. Most will require an upgrade to pop Leads, although some towers, such as Glue Gunners, can affect Leads without applying damage to them. Some already pop Lead by default, with examples being the Bomb Shooter, Mortar Monkey, Gwendolin, Striker Jones, Obyn Greenfoot, Ezili, Pat Fusty, Adora, and Admiral Brickell (mines only).

Table of Damage Types

See Damage Types #Quick Reference.

Countering Lead Bloons

Lead-Popping in Bloons TD 2

Only Bomb Tower can pop Leads. Ice Tower can freeze but not damage them. Monkey Glue can affect Leads but only slow them down.

Lead-Popping in Bloons TD 3

The following towers and upgrades allow the tower to affect Lead Bloons:

Tower	Upgrade	Notes
Cannon (name?)	No upgrade required	Explosions pop Leads.
Super Monkey	Plasma Vision (Upgrade 2, Path 1)	Plasma pops any bloon type.
Boomerang Thrower	Thermite (Upgrade 2, Path 2)	Boomerangs pop any bloon type.
Exploding Pineapples	N/A	Explosions pop Leads. Timing may be required.

Lead-Popping in Bloons TD 4

The following towers and upgrades allow the tower to affect Lead Bloons:

Tower	Upgrade	Notes
Dart Monkey	N/A	Requires Exploding Darts premium upgrade.
Tack Shooter	Ring of Fire (Upgrade #4)	Flame ring pop Leads.
Boomerang Thrower	Lightsabre Thrower (Upgrade #4)	Lightsabres pop Lead.
Bomb Tower	No upgrade required	Explosions pop Leads.
Ice Tower	No upgrade required	Snap Freeze allows popping of bloons including Lead.
Glue Gunner	No upgrade required	Corrosive Glue allows popping of bloons including Lead.
Mortar Tower	No upgrade required	Explosions pop Leads.
Super Monkey	Plasma Vision	Plasma pops Leads.
Dartling Gun	Laser Cannon	In this game, lasers from Laser Cannon can pop lead.
Spike Factory	White Hot Spikes	Heat-tipped spikes pop lead.
Monkey Glue	N/A	Glue slows down Leads but not pop them.
Exploding Pineapples	N/A	Explosions pop Leads. Timing may be required.
Monkey Buccaneer	N/A	Requires Dreadnought premium upgrade.

Lead-Popping in Bloons TD 5

The following towers and upgrades allow the tower and/or nearby towers to affect Lead Bloons:

Tower	Upgrade	Notes
Dart Monkey	Juggernaut (Path 1, Upgrade 4)	Only Juggernaut pops Lead without support, and also pops Camo Lead by default due to having Enhanced Eyesight. Alternatively, either the Splodey Darts Premium upgrade or the Level 4 Dart Training Facility is required. In this case, all Dart Monkeys require Enhanced Eyesight to target and damage Camo Leads.
Tack Shooter	Ring of Fire (Path 1, Upgrade 4)	Only Ring of Fire pops Lead without support. Cannot detect Camo Leads.
Sniper Monkey	Full Metal Jacket (Path 1, Upgrade 1)	Requires Night Vision Goggles to detect Camo Leads without support. In Flash versions, Semi-Automatic Rifle pops Leads and Camo Leads.
Boomerang Thrower	Red Hot 'Rangs (Path 2, Upgrade 2)	Also requires Glaive Lord to pop Camo Lead.
Ninja Monkey	Flash Bomb (Path 2, Upgrade 3)	Can pop Camo Leads because it detects camo by default.
Bomb Tower	No upgrade needed	Can't detect Camo Leads without external support.
Ice Tower	No upgrade needed	Need Snap Freeze to damage Leads. Ice Shards doesn't have the Ice Shards damage Leads. Can't do anything to Camos unless supported by a Level 4 Ice Fortress.
Glue Gunner	No upgrade needed	Need Corrosive Glue to damage Leads. Can't do anything to Camos unless using Glue Striker ability. Glue Strike ability renders Leads vulnerable to any damage type.
Monkey Buccaneer	Cannon Ship (Path 2, Upgrade 3)	Cannon Ship's bombs can pop Camo Lead due to having Crow's Nest. Alternatively, either the Dreadnought premium upgrade or supported by a Level 4 Pirate Cove. In this case, all Monkey Buccaneers can innately pop camo Leads.
Monkey Ace	Spectre (Path 1, Upgrade 4) Pineapple Present (Path 2, Upgrade 1) Ground Zero (Path 2, Upgrade 4)	Spectre only damages Leads with the bombs, and will not damage DDTs in Bloons Monkey City Flash as a result. Pineapple Present is unreliable. Both require Spy Plane to affect Camo Leads. Ground Zero needs either the casual Pineapple Presents or the ability to damage Leads.
Super Monkey	Plasma Blasts (Path 1, Upgrade 2) Robo Monkey (Path 2, Upgrade 3)	Unless supported by a Level 3 Super Monkey Lair, only Temple of the Monkey God will naturally detect Camo. Technological Terror can damage camo lead with its ability.
Monkey Apprentice	No upgrade needed	Summon Whirlwind won't have the tornados damage Leads, though Tempest Tornado will. Requires Monkey Sense to detect Camo.
Monkey Village	High Energy Beacon (Path 1, Upgrade 4)	Naturally detects Camo even without Radar Scanner. Monkey Intelligence Bureau also has allies in range affect Camo Leads.
Mortar Tower	No upgrade needed	Requires Signal Flare to detect Camos. Signal Flare will also Decamo on hit.
Dartling Gun	Ray of Doom (Path 1, Upgrade 4) Depleted Bloontonium Darts (Path 2, Upgrade 2)	Can hit Camo bloons
Spike Factory	White Hot Spikes (Path 1, Upgrade 2)	Can hit Camo bloons without external camo support
Heli Pilot	Razor Rotors (Path 1, Upgrade 3) Apache Dartship (Path 1, Upgrade 4)	Requires Enhanced IFR Instruments to detect Camo. Only rotors from the Heli Pilot can pop Lead. If upgraded to Apache Dartship, only the rotors and the missile array can pop Lead.
Monkey Engineer	Cleansing Foam (Path 1, Upgrade 3) Bloon Trap (Path 1, Upgrade 4)	Can't detect Camo Leads without external support, but Cleansing Foam can neutralize Camo Leads. Having a tier 3 Engineer's Workshop can also allow both the tower and its sentries to pop Lead directly. Lastly in Bloons Monkey City Mobile, the Monkey Engineer's Monkey Knowledge must be at least level 13 for the sentries to directly pop Lead bloons instead.
Bloonchipper	Heavy Duty Suction	Requires external camo detection and the Super Wide Funnel upgrade to affect DDTs.
Monkey Sub	Bloontonium Reactor (Path 1, Upgrade 4) Ballistic Missile (Path 2, Upgrade 3)	Can't detect camo by itself, but needs to rely on other camo-detecting towers to attack Camos via Advanced Intel. Can decamo with Submerge and Support (and also pop Lead if upgraded to Bloontonium Reactor) but requires the tower to be submerged. Only the missile from Ballistic Missile can pop lead.

Lead-Popping in Bloons TD 6

The following towers and upgrades allow the tower and/or nearby towers to affect Lead Bloons, plus information about dealing with DDTs:

Tower	Upgrade	Notes
Dart Monkey	Juggernaut (Path 1, Upgrade 4) Plasma Monkey Fan Club ability (Path 2, Upgrade 5) Crossbow Master (Path 3, Upgrade 5)	Requires Enhanced Eyesight for Juggernaut or Plasma Monkey Fan Club (ability only) to detect Camo Leads without support. Crossbow Master naturally detects Camo Leads. External support is not required for invisible DDTs, as using Plasma Monkey Fan Club ability with Dart Monkeys that have Enhanced Eyesight will destroy DDTs.
Boomerang Monkey	Red Hot Rangs (Path 3, Upgrade 2)	Requires Glaive Lord in combination with Red Hot Rangs to detect and pop Camo Leads without support. For invisible DDTs, 5-0-2 Glaive Lord is okay, but 0-5-2 Perma Charge with camo detection or 2-5-0 Perma Charge with lead-popping and camo detection are both preferred options. If Bionic Augmentation is enabled, only 0-4-2 Turbo Charges and 0-5-2 Perma Charge can pop Camo Leads and DDTs.
Bomb Shooter	No upgrade needed	Requires activation of the Bomb Blitz ability to affect pop Camo Leads without support, but is extremely unreliable due to needing to leak. For invisible DDTs, adding Radar Scanner and Striker Jones Level 5+ is the best approach.
Tack Shooter	Hot Shots (Path 1, Upgrade 3) Super Maelstrom (Path 2, Upgrade 5)(main attack only)	Requires external camo detection to pop camo leads. For invisible DDTs, either The Tack Zone with MIB or most lead-popping Tack Shooters with Radar Scanner are both the best approaches.
Ice Monkey	Cold Snap (Path 1, Upgrade 2) Absolute Zero ability (Path 2, Upgrade 5)	Cold Snap also pops Camo Leads. Absolute Zero ability can do this too. When it comes to invisible DDTs without external supports, 2-0-5 Icicle Impale is recommended. Embrittlement can be used to make the DDTs visible for any allies capable of damaging Leads but not Camos.
Glue Gunner	No upgrade required	Can affect Leads no matter its upgrades, but requires Corrosive Glue to damage Leads or stick to DDTs without need of support. Needs Glue Strike or Glue Storm ability to hit Camos without external support. When it comes to invisible DDTs, MOAB Glue with external support can be used to slow down DDTs, while Super Glue with external support can efficiently damage them.
Sniper Monkey	Full Metal Jacket (Path 1, Upgrade 1) Supply Drop (Path 2, Upgrade 4)	Full Metal Jacket requires Night Vision Goggles to detect and pop Camo Leads without support. Shrapnel can pop Leads when given Full Metal Jacket. 4-2-0 Maim MOABs are effective Sniper options against DDTs, thanks to both its grouped stun and its shrapnel.
Monkey Sub	Heat-tipped Darts (Path 2, Upgrade 2)	Bloontonium Reactor (Path 1, Upgrade 4) decamos Camo Lead without need of support but requires Heat-tipped Darts to damage them. Heat-tipped Darts with Advanced Intel can pop Camo Leads when given a camo-detecting tower within range of the bloon track. Pre-Emptive Strike's passive ability can be used to neutralize all incoming DDTs, assuming normal blimp health, and also Fortified DDTs when given Sub Commander nearby.
Monkey Buccaneer	Hot Shot (Path 2, Upgrade 2) Carrier Flagship (Path 1, Upgrade 5, DDTs only)	Both require Crow's Nest to detect and pop Camo Leads without support. For the Carrier Flagship, only the missiles which are locked to strong and only target DDTs can hurt DDTs with Crow's Nest directly, meaning external support as a 5-2-0 Carrier Flagship with camo detection or a 5-0-2 with an MIB support can hurt camo Leads. Monkey Pirates ability (and by extension Pirate Lord ability) needs camo detection to hook in DDTs.
Monkey Ace	Exploding Pineapple (Path 2, Upgrade 1) Spectre (Path 3, Upgrade 4) Sky Shredder (Path 1, Upgrade 5)	Exploding Pineapple is unreliable lead-popping; cheapest reliable lead-popping for a Monkey Ace goes to Bomber Ace. Sky Shredder, Exploding Pineapple, and Spectre all require Spy Plane to detect and pop Camo Leads without support. Against invisible DDTs, either use Ground Zero ability or use the 5-2-0 Sky Shredder. A 0-2-5 Flying Fortress can be used to pop invisible DDTs but its price makes it not a suitable option.
Heli Pilot	Razor Rotors (Path 1, Upgrade 3) Special Poperations (Path 2, Upgrade 5) MOAB Shove (Path 3, Upgrade 3)	Razor Rotors and MOAB Shove require IFR to detect and pop Camo Leads without support. Marine from Special Poperations can pop Lead including Camo Lead. MOAB Shove's main missile also pops Lead but not DDTs without support. Comanche Defense's main missiles and mini-Comanches can pop Lead too but won't damage DDTs naturally. For invisible DDTs, use 5-0-2 Apache Prime with MIB or 0-5-2 Special Poperations.
Mortar Monkey	No upgrade needed	Requires Signal Flare or the Pop and Awe ability to detect and pop Camo Leads without support. Versus invisible DDTs without external supports, Blooncineration can be used to deal with DDTs effectively.
Dartling Gunner	Hydra Rocket Pods (Path 2, Upgrade 3) Plasma Accelerator (Path 1, Upgrade 4)	Requires Advanced Targeting to detect and pop Camo Leads without support. Hydra Rocket Pods can naturally detect Camo Leads and invisible DDTs.
Wizard Monkey	Fireball (Path 2, Upgrade 1) Necromancer: Unpopped Army (Path 3, Upgrade 4)(Undead Bloons only) Arcane Spike (Path 1, Upgrade 4)	Arcane Spike and Fireball require Monkey Sense to detect and pop Camo Leads without support, or Archmage to decamo and therefore affect Camo Leads. Summon Phoenix ability detects Camo Leads if given 0-4-2 crosspath. Necromancer can decamo Camo Leads and is given either the Path 2 Crosspathing or have enough Undead Bloons in its graveyard can even pop them. For invisible DDTs, 4-0-2 Arcane Spikes or Prince of Darkness are both recommended options to counter them.
Super Monkey	Plasma Blasts (Path 1, Upgrade 2) Tech Terror (Path 2, Upgrade 4) Dark Champion (Path 3, Upgrade 4)	Plasma Blasts requires Ultravision to detect and pop Camo Leads without support, although Tech Terror ability can wipe out Camo Leads including DDTs. 2-0-3 Dark Knight is cost-efficient against DDTs, invisible or not.
Ninja Monkey	Flash Bomb (Path 3, Upgrade 3)	Can always pop Camo Leads even without support. Requires Sticky Bomb to efficiently damage DDTs. Also has Decamo on damage with Counter-Espionage crosspath.
Alchemist	No upgrade needed	Can never affect camo without support. However, their Acidic Mixture Dip upgrade can buff nearby camo-detecting towers to let those towers pop Camo Leads and DDTs. Also worth a note is that Lead to Gold deals highly increased damage to Leads per attack, though is unlikely to be effective against even visible DDTs.
Druid	Hard Thorns (Path 1, Upgrade 1)	Allows all attacks to pop Leads. Requires either Superstorm or a Spirit of the Forest with Hard Thorns to affect Camo Leads and invisible DDTs without support. Cost-efficient DDT-popping via Druids is not easy to execute. Superstorm + Poplusts can be used to efficiently deal with DDTs, but is expensive. Avatar of Wrath with either Path 1 crosspath and Radar Scanner or a Level 8+ nearby Obyn Greenfoot, Path 2 crosspath and a nearby MIB can be used to deal with DDTs too, but is expensive and not effective against Round 99 without effective slows.
Spike Factory	White Hot Spikes (Path 1, Upgrade 2)	2-4-0 Spike Storm, 2-0-5 Perma-Spike, and Super Mines can efficiently deal with DDTs, invisible or not, without need of external supports.
Monkey Village	Monkey Intelligence Bureau (Path 2, Upgrade 3) Primary Expertise (Path 1, Upgrade 5)	MIB allows all nearby towers to pop Lead properties alongside camo detection. Primary Expertise detects camo by default and therefore can be used to deal with Camo Leads and invisible DDTs.
Engineer Monkey	Sentry Expert (Path 1, Upgrade 4) Cleansing Foam (Path 2, Upgrade 3)	Sentry Expert can deploy Boom Sentries that can pop Lead Bloons. Boom Sentries cannot affect DDTs at all. Foam can affect Camo Leads and invisible DDTs, but otherwise the Engineer possesses no natural camo detection. Recommended to deal with invisible DDTs without external support is to use Cleansing Foam to decamo the DDTs and use 5-2-0 Sentry Champion or XXXL Trap to deal with the decamo DDTs.
Beast Handler	Adasaurus (Path 2, Upgrade 2) Great White (Path 1, Upgrade 3) Pouākai (Path 3, Upgrade 5)	Tyrannosaurus Rex ability and Pouākai can affect Camo Leads without external support.
Quincy	Level 7+	Every 3rd arrow explodes upon collision with the first bloon, 2nd arrow at Level 17+. Cannot affect DDTs without support.
Gwendolin	No upgrade needed	All attacks damage Leads because she attacks with fire. For DDTs, her abilities deal the most damage to them compared to her main attack. Cannot detect camo outside her abilities. However, Heat-It-Up allows allies to damage Leads, and Firestorm also instantaneously grants allies the Heat-It-Up buff on use.
Striker Jones	No upgrade needed	All attacks damage Leads because he fires explosive missiles. Requires camo detection to detect DDTs, but Level 5+ allows him to gain chance to damage DDTs, which have Black properties. His Level 3+ Concussive Shell ability can also damage DDTs when given camo detection.
Obyn Greenfoot	No upgrade needed	His wolf spirits can pop Leads. Brambles requires Level 16+ to pop Lead. Wall of Trees can suck up DDTs if the trees have remaining HP to absorb the DDTs whole. Cannot detect camo outside his abilities. Can also grant all nearby Druids camo detection, allowing them to pop Camo Leads if they have the Hard Thorns upgrade.
Captain Churchill	No upgrade needed	His shell attack can pop Leads because of the explosions. Requires Level 3+ Armor Piercing Shells to damage DDTs and Level 6+ to detect camo. Machine gun does not pop Lead unless given the Armor Piercing Shells ability.
Benjamin	Level 7+	Trojan can affect Leads. Trojan does not naturally detect camo or target DDTs until Level 18+. Syphon Funding can deal with Leads and Camo Leads, but never DDTs, regardless of level.
Ezili	No upgrade needed	All her cursing attacks can affect Leads and DDTs, and detects camo. Decamo against non-blimp Camo Bloons is granted at Level 9+. Sacrificial Totem ability allows allies to damage Camo, at the cost of Lives locking out its usage in Impoppable and CHIMPS. Can decamo DDTs at Level 16+.
Pat Fusty	No upgrade needed	His slap attacks affect Leads. Requires external camo detection to see Camo Leads or DDTs.
Adora	No upgrade needed	All of her attacks pop Lead because they utilize solar power. Requires external camo detection to see Camo Leads or DDTs.
Admiral Brickell	No upgrade needed	Mines always pop Leads, but pistol doesn't, unless with her Level 5+ Naval Tactics ability active. Naval Tactics allows allied Buccaneers and Subs in range to damage Leads and visible DDTs at Level 5, and Camos at Level 8. Brickell additionally gets her own Camo detection at Level 7. Mega Mine can pop DDTs, but main mines cannot pop DDTs without Level 15+ or an active Naval Tactics.
Etienne	Level 10+	Only UCAV can pop Leads. Level 20+ UCAV ability required for DDTs. By the time he can pop Leads without support, he and all allies on the map can detect camo by that point.
Sauda	Level 3+	Pops Lead with any of her abilities. Naturally detects camo. Main attack only naturally damages Lead starting from Level 13+. Against DDTs without support, preferably with Level 13+ for the most efficient results.
Psi	Level 6+	Cannot target Leads until said level, but can be supported with MIB to target Leads. Any other lead-popping grant will not work until Psi reaches Level 6+. They require Level 20 to affect DDTs. Technically, they can affect Leads and DDTs starting from Level 3+ with their Psychic Blast ability, but doesn't damage them. Can always detect camo.
Geraldo	Level 8+	Requires the Bottle of 'Gerry's Fire' Hot Sauce item to pop Leads at minimum. Some of his other base items offered (i.e. Killer Rabbit via 4 Pet Rabbits, Genie Bottle) also pop Leads. Blade Trap at Level 14+ can pop Leads too, similarly to Super Maelstrom. For Camo Leads, See Invisibility Potion is an easy solution on top. To pop Camo Leads without the aforementioned potion, Level 16+ Nail Mine can pop Camo Leads with explosion, but not DDTs, and Pet Rabbit and Genie Bottle automatically detect camo and thus can pop Camo Leads and DDTs.
Corvus	No upgrade required	Requires Spear spell to be activated to pop Leads. His Level 3+ Soul Harvest and Level 10+ Dark Ritual can damage Leads and collect mana from them. Some of his other spells (i.e. Trample, Ember, Ancestral Might and Overload) also allow him to pop Lead. Frostbound cannot damage Lead Bloons but is able to freeze and slow them. Requires Vision spell to be able to detect Camo Leads and DDTs.
Rosalia	Level 2+	Can switch to grenade launcher that can pop Leads. Her Laser Gun shoots Plasma Bolt that can pop Lead Bloons every 10th shot at Level 5+, and at Level 13+ Laser Gun upgrades to Plasma damage type. All of her abilities allow her to pop Leads. Requires external camo detection to see Camo Leads or DDTs.
Paragons	Any Paragon upgrade	All Paragons can pop Leads and detect Camo.

Lead-Popping in Bloons Adventure Time TD

Note that most towers/trinkets can pop DDTs once given lead popping, assuming DDTs are decamoed or the tower has camo detection, with the exception of C4 Charlie, who still needs level 10 for black popping. The following towers, upgrades, trinkets, and weapons allow the tower and/or nearby towers to affect/damage Lead Bloons, plus information about dealing with DDTs:

Tower	Upgrade	Notes
Max	Hot Tips	Since Enhanced Range is a prerequisite for this upgrade, Max can detect Camo Leads without support/trinkets. External support is not required for camoed DDTs.
Juggernaut Max	Juggernaut Keep Rolling Spikey Chaos	Juggernaut Max cannot pop leads without the Juggernaut upgrade, but cannot pop ghost leads. Keep Rolling and Spikey Chaos projectiles also deal physical damage. External support is required for camoed DDTs, as Juggernaut Max lacks camo detection whatsoever.
Dungeon Finn	Fire Crown Flame Slap Inferno Focused Fire	Only Fire Crown, Flame Slap, Inferno, and Focused Fire can damage lead bloons, his other attacks cannot damage lead bloons without support External support is not required for camoed DDTs if using his Inferno ability, as it has innate camo detection, but his other attacks lack camo detection.
Jake	Mace Hand Big Jake Slap Jake Suit	Mace Hand only grants lead popping for the mace attack, while Big Jake Slap only grants lead popping for the slap attack. Jake Suit grants all attacks lead popping power. External support is required for camoed DDTs, as Jake lacks any form of innate camo detection or decamo.
Tuxedo Jake	Rock Out Inspiring Melody	Rock Out can pop Lead Bloons, while Inspiring Melody lets towers damage all types of bloons, including Lead Bloons. External support is required for camoed DDTs, as Tuxedo Jake cannot detect camos, nor does he grant camo detection.
Princess Bubblegum	No upgrade requied Soda and Mints (ability)	Princess Bubblegum can pop lead bloons by default. Her ability cannot, and requires Soda and Mints or an external lead-popping buff. External support is not required for DDTs, as she can detect camo with Super Intelligence.
Warrior Bubblegum	Gumball Guardians	Warrior Bubblegum can pop lead bloons with her Gumball Guardians ability. External support is not required for DDTs, as the Gumball Guardians also have camo detection.
Captain Cassie	No upgrade required Fire Barrels MOAB Takedown	Cassie can damage lead bloons by default, and the only attack she has that cannot damage lead are her grapes. External support is not required for detecting camoed DDTs, as Crows Nest provides camo detection, but her cannon and grape attacks require black or lead popping, respectively before they can damage DDTs.
Commander Cassie	Cruise Missile Bloontonium Tips	Commander Cassie can only damage Lead Bloons with Cruise Missile, or if she gets Bloontonium Tips which lets all of her attacks damage lead bloons. External support is not required for camoed DDTs, but does require Bloontonium Tips.
Flame Princess	No upgrade requied	Flame Princess can pop lead bloons by default. External support is not required for DDTs, as she can detect camo with Heat Sense.
Marceline	Telekinesis Pyrokinesis	Marceline cannot damage Lead bloons without support/trinkets, but her blockback from Telekinesis will let her slow down Lead bloons. Pyrokinesis lets this blowback set lead bloons on fire, popping them. External support is required for DDTs.
Hunter Marceline	Garlic Bomb Soul Sucking	Hunter Marceline can only damage Lead bloons without support/trinkets with her garlic bombs or by leeching the soul of a lead bloon. When she leeches the soul of a lead bloon, she permanently gains lead-popping power. External support is not required for DDTs, but does require leeching the properties of a camo and lead bloon beforehand.

Trinket	Notes
Carl the Gem	This trinket's attack can damage lead bloons.
Vorpal Hand	Only works on melee attacks, so any trinket without innate lead popping, such as Missile against DDTs, will not damage DDTs even with this trinket.
Robo-Monkey Visor	Lets all attacks damage lead. Only equippable on ranged characters.
Glob's Helmet	Lets all attacks damage lead. Also grants immunity against negative effects and +6 range.

Lead-Popping in Bloons Pop!

Only explosives, freezing, magic, fire, and bullets can pop Leads. There are no "special" exceptions to this rule. The following is a list of those that can pop Leads:

Monkeys and Mega Monkeys

• Bomb Shooter (and Mega counterpart)
• Ice Monkey (and Mega counterpart)
• Acid Gunner (and Mega counterpart)
• Sniper Monkey (and Mega counterpart, but not its shrapnel)
• Mortar Monkey (and Mega counterpart)
• Wizard Monkey (and Mega counterpart)

Heroes

• Gwendolin
• Striker Jones
• Obyn Greenfoot
• Captain Churchill
• Adora

Powers

• Ballistic Missile
• Lightning Storm
• Monkey Ace
• Phoenix
• Pop and Awe
• Super Monkey Storm
• The Anti-Bloon

Lead-Popping in Bloons TD Battles 2

Many of these lead-popping options remain similar compared to BTD6 with some exceptions:

• Arcane Mastery (pops Lead, 1.4.0)
• Laser Cannon (pops Lead, 2.0)
• Acid Pool (pops Camo Lead, 3.2)
• Full Auto Rifle (pops Lead, 1.0)
• Comanche Defense (mini-Comanches pop Lead, 1.0.6)

The following towers and upgrades allow the tower and/or nearby towers to affect Lead Bloons, plus information about dealing with DDTs:

Tower	Upgrade	Notes
Dart Monkey	Juggernaut (Path 1, Upgrade 4) Plasma Monkey Fan Club ability (Path 2, Upgrade 5) Crossbow Master (Path 3, Upgrade 5)	Requires Enhanced Eyesight for Juggernaut or Plasma Monkey Fan Club to detect Camo Leads without support. Crossbow Master naturally detects Camo Leads. External support is not required for invisible DDTs, as using Plasma Monkey Fan Club ability with Dart Monkeys that have Enhanced Eyesight will destroy DDTs.
Boomerang Monkey	Red Hot Rangs (Path 3, Upgrade 2)	Requires Glaive Lord in combination with Red Hot Rangs to detect and pop Camo Leads without support. For invisible DDTs, 5-0-2 Glaive Lord is okay, but 0-5-2 Perma Charge with camo detection or 2-5-0 Perma Charge with lead-popping and camo detection are both preferred options.
Bomb Shooter	No upgrade required	Requires activation of the Bomb Blitz ability to affect pop Camo Leads without support. While it is more reliable due to ability activating when bloons are about to leak, it is still very risky. For invisible DDTs, adding Radar Scanner and Striker Jones Level 5+ is the best approach.
Tack Shooter	Hot Shots (Path 1, Upgrade 3) Super Maelstrom (Path 2, Upgrade 5)	Requires Inferno Ring's meteor itself to detect and pop Camo Leads without support, but is very unreliable due to lack of control. For invisible DDTs, either The Tack Zone with MIB or most lead-popping Tack Shooters with Radar Scanner are both the best approaches.
Ice Monkey	Cold Snap (Path 1, Upgrade 2) Absolute Zero ability (Path 2, Upgrade 5)	Cold Snap also pops Camo Leads. Absolute Zero ability can do this too. When it comes to invisible DDTs without external supports, 2-0-5 Icicle Impale is recommended. Embrittlement can be used to make the DDTs visible for any allies capable of damaging Leads but not Camos.
Glue Gunner	No upgrade required	Can affect Leads no matter its upgrades, but requires Corrosive Glue to damage Leads or stick to DDTs without need of support. Needs Glue Strike or Glue Storm ability or Relentless Glue and above to hit Camos without external support. When it comes to invisible DDTs, MOAB Glue with external support can be used to slow down DDTs, while Relentless Glue can slow and stun them without any external support. Super Glue can efficiently damage them.
Sniper Monkey	Full Metal Jacket (Path 1, Upgrade 1) Supply Drop (Path 2, Upgrade 4) Full Auto Rifle (Path 3, Upgrade 4)	Full Metal Jacket and Full Auto Rifle require Night Vision Goggles to detect and pop Camo Leads without support. Shrapnel can pop Leads when given Full Metal Jacket. 4-2-0 Maim MOABs are effective Sniper options against DDTs, thanks to both its grouped stun and its shrapnel.
Monkey Sub	Heat-tipped Darts (Path 2, Upgrade 2)	Bloontonium Reactor (Path 1, Upgrade 4) decamos Camo Lead without need of support but requires Heat-tipped Darts to damage them. Heat-tipped Darts with Advanced Intel can pop Camo Leads when given a camo-detecting tower within range of the bloon track. Pre-Emptive Strike's passive ability can be used to neutralize all incoming DDTs, assuming normal blimp health, and also Fortified DDTs when given Sub Commander nearby.
Monkey Buccaneer	Hot Shot (Path 2, Upgrade 2) Carrier Flagship (Path 1, Upgrade 5)	Both require Crow's Nest to detect and pop Camo Leads without support. Monkey Pirates ability (and by extension Pirate Lord ability) can hook in DDTs regardless of crosspath. For invisible DDTs, 5-0-2 Carrier Flagship can counter DDTs outside of ability usages.
Monkey Ace	Exploding Pineapple (Path 2, Upgrade 1) Spectre (Path 3, Upgrade 4) Sky Shredder (Path 1, Upgrade 5)	Exploding Pineapple is unreliable lead-popping; cheapest reliable lead-popping for a Monkey Ace goes to Bomber Ace. Sky Shredder, Exploding Pineapple, and Spectre all require Spy Plane to detect and pop Camo Leads without support. Against invisible DDTs, either use Ground Zero ability or use the 5-2-0 Sky Shredder.
Heli Pilot	Razor Rotors (Path 1, Upgrade 3) Special Poperations (Path 2, Upgrade 5) Comanche Defense (Path 3, Upgrade 4)	Razor Rotors and MOAB Shove require IFR to detect and pop Camo Leads without support. Marine from Special Poperations can pop Lead including Camo Lead. Comanche Defense's main missiles and mini-Comanches can pop Lead too but won't damage DDTs naturally. For invisible DDTs, use 5-0-2 Apache Prime with MIB or 0-5-2 Special Poperations.
Mortar Monkey	No upgrade needed	Requires Signal Flare or the Pop and Awe ability to detect and pop Camo Leads without support. Versus invisible DDTs without external supports, Blooncineration can be used to deal with DDTs effectively.
Dartling Gunner	Hydra Rocket Pods (Path 2, Upgrade 3) Laser Cannon (Path 1, Upgrade 3)	Requires Advanced Targeting to detect and pop Camo Leads without support.
Wizard Monkey	Fireball (Path 2, Upgrade 1) Arcane Mastery (Path 1, Upgrade 3) Unpopped Army (Path 3, Upgrade 4)	Arcane Mastery (starting from Version 1.4.0) and Fireball require Monkey Sense to detect and pop Camo Leads without support, or Archmage to decamo and therefore affect Camo Leads. Summon Phoenix ability detects Camo Leads no matter the crosspathing option. For invisible DDTs, 4-0-2 Arcane Spikes or Prince of Darkness are both recommended options to counter them.
Super Monkey	Plasma Blasts (Path 1, Upgrade 2) Tech Terror (Path 2, Upgrade 4) Dark Champion (Path 3, Upgrade 4)	Plasma Blasts requires Ultravision to detect and pop Camo Leads without support, although Tech Terror ability can wipe out Camo Leads including DDTs. 2-0-3 Dark Knight is cost-efficient against DDTs, invisible or not.
Ninja Monkey	Flash Bomb (Path 3, Upgrade 3)	Can always pop Camo Leads even without support. Requires Sticky Bomb to efficiently damage DDTs. Also has Decamo on damage with Counter-Espionage crosspath.
Alchemist	No upgrade needed	Only Acid Pool has direct camo detection for the Alchemist. However, their Acidic Mixture Dip upgrade can buff nearby camo-detecting towers to let those towers pop Camo Leads and DDTs. Also worth a note is that Lead to Gold deals highly increased damage to Leads per attack.
Druid	Hard Thorns (Path 1, Upgrade 1) Druid of the Jungle (Path 2, Upgrade 3)	Hard Thorns upgrade allows all attacks to pop Leads. Druid of the Jungle's vines can destroy Leads without Hard Thorns, but cannot damage DDTs even with external support. Requires either Superstorm or a Spirit of the Forest with Hard Thorns to affect Camo Leads and invisible DDTs without support. Cost-efficient DDT-popping via Druids is not easy to execute. Superstorm + Poplusts can be used to efficiently deal with DDTs, but is expensive. Avatar of Wrath with either Path 1 crosspath and Radar Scanner or Path 2 crosspath and a nearby Monkey Intelligence Bureau can be used to deal with DDTs too, but is expensive and not effective against Round 99 without effective slows.
Spike Factory	White Hot Spikes (Path 1, Upgrade 2)	2-4-0 Spike Storm, 2-0-5 Perma-Spike, and Super Mines can efficiently deal with DDTs, invisible or not, without need of external supports.
Monkey Village	Monkey Intelligence Bureau (Path 2, Upgrade 3) Primary Expertise (Path 1, Upgrade 5)	MIB allows all nearby towers to pop Lead properties alongside camo detection. Primary Expertise detects camo by default and therefore can be used to deal with Camo Leads and invisible DDTs.
Engineer Monkey	Sentry Expert (Path 1, Upgrade 4) Cleansing Foam (Path 2, Upgrade 3)	Sentry Expert can deploy Boom Sentries that can pop Lead Bloons. Boom Sentries cannot affect DDTs at all. Foam can affect Camo Leads and invisible DDTs, but otherwise the Engineer possesses no natural camo detection.
Quincy	Level 7+	Every 3rd arrow explodes upon collision with the first bloon, 2nd arrow at Level 17+. Cannot affect DDTs without support.
Cyber Quincy	Level 7+	Every 3rd arrow explodes upon collision with the first bloon, 2nd arrow at Level 17+. Those arrows and his Cyber Storm ability can affect DDTs.
Gwendolin	No upgrade required	All attacks damage Leads because she attacks with fire. For DDTs, her abilities deal the most damage to them compared to her main attack. Cannot detect camo outside her abilities. However, Heat-It-Up allows allies to damage Leads, and Firestorm also instantaneously grants allies the Heat-It-Up buff on use.
Scientist Gwendolin	No upgrade required	Just like regular Gwendolin, her attacks can pop Lead but she cannot affect Camo Leads outside her abilities. Scientist Gwendolin's Heat-It-Up also increases damage done to Lead bloons.
Striker Jones	No upgrade required	All attacks damage Leads because he fires explosive missiles. Requires camo detection to detect DDTs, but Level 5+ allows him to gain chance to damage DDTs, which have Black properties. His Level 3+ Concussive Shell ability can also damage DDTs when given camo detection.
Biker Bones	No upgrade required	Affects Leads exactly like the regular Striker Jones.
Obyn Greenfoot	No upgrade required	His wolf spirits can pop Leads. Brambles requires Level 16+ to pop Lead. Wall of Trees can suck up DDTs if the trees have remaining HP to absorb the DDTs whole. Cannot detect camo outside his abilities.
Ocean Guardian Obyn	No upgrade required	Has no difference from regular Obyn in popping Leads and DDTs.
Captain Churchill	No upgrade required	His shell attack can pop Leads because of the explosions. Requires Level 3+ Armor Piercing Shells to damage DDTs and Level 6+ to detect camo. Machine gun does not pop Lead unless given the Armor Piercing Shells ability.
Sentai Churchill	No upgrade required	Has no difference from Captain Churchill in popping Leads and DDTs.
Benjamin	Level 7+	Trojan can affect Leads. Trojan does not naturally detect camo or target DDTs until Level 18+. Syphon Funding can deal with Leads and Camo Leads, but DDTs at Level 20.
DJ Benjammin'	Level 7+	Trojan can affect Leads. Trojan does not naturally detect camo or target DDTs until Level 18+. Beatdown can downgrade Leads and Camo Leads, but DDTs at Level 20.
Ezili	No upgrade required	All her cursing attacks can affect Leads and DDTs, and detects camo. Decamo against non-blimp Camo Bloons is granted at Level 9+. Sacrificial Totem ability allows allies to damage Camo, at the cost of some lost lives, and not being able to use it in Sudden Death.
Smudge Cat Ezili	No upgrade required	Does not differ much from regular Ezili.
Pat Fusty	No upgrade required	His slap attacks affect Leads. Requires external camo detection to see Camo Leads or DDTs. At Level 8+, his Rallying Roar ability grants affected monkeys ability to pop Lead Bloons.
Fusty the Snowman	No upgrade required	His slap attacks affect Leads. Requires external camo detection to see Camo Leads or DDTs.
Agent Jericho	No upgrade required	There is no upgrade that allows Agent Jericho to directly damage Lead Bloons.
Highwayman Jericho	No upgrade required	There is no upgrade that allows Highwayman Jericho to directly damage Lead Bloons, but he does have Misdirection to misdirect DDTs if he is Level 13+.
Star Captain Jericho	No upgrade required	His blaster always pops Lead, but not Purple until Level 19. He requires Level 7+ to detect Camo Leads and DDTs.
Adora	No upgrade required	All of her attacks pop Lead because they utilize solar power. Her Long Arm of Light allows her to temporarily see Camo, and Ball of Light has innate camo detection.
Fateweaver Adora	No upgrade required	All of her attacks pop Lead. Her Sharp Sting of Fate can detect and pop Camo, and Chains of Fate ability has innate camo detection.
Etienne	Level 6+	Launches UAV that grants all towers (including himself) a chance to pop any Bloon type. Can detect Camo Leads with his Level 5 upgrade. UAV intel upgrades at Level 7 (grants all towers Camo Detection), Level 9 (increased chance), and at Level 15 all towers can pop any Bloon type. His UCAV ability can damage Lead and is also affected by Etienne's UAV buff.
Bonnie	No upgrade required	Her dynamites can damage Lead Bloons. Requires Level 7+ to be able to pop Black Bloons and DDTs. Her Level 10+ B.E.A.S.T. ability can damage and stun Leads and DDTs on its path.

History of Lead-Popping Power

Bloons Tower Defense 2

The only tower that can pop lead in this game is the Bomb Tower. Ice Ball can affect Lead, but only freezes it. Monkey Glue can also affect lead.

Bloons Tower Defense 3

Many more upgrades can pop lead. This includes Thermite and Plasma Vision. Exploding Pineapples can also pop lead.

Bloons TD 4

Additional towers and upgrades have been added that can pop lead. This game features the following lead-affecting sources:

• Tack Shooters with Ring of Fire
• Boomerang Throwers with Lightsabre Thrower
• Bomb Towers
• Ice Towers (Snap Freeze can pop lead)
• Glue Gunners (Corrosive Glue can pop lead)
• Mortar Monkeys
• Monkey Apprentices with Fireball
• Super Monkeys with Plasma Vision
• Dartling Guns with Laser Cannon (they can in BTD4, but not BTD5)
• Spike Factories with White Hot Spikes
• Monkey Glue
• Exploding Pineapples

Bloons TD 5

TBA

Bloons TD 6

Many sources of lead-popping power have been added. Acidic Mixture Dip and Gwendolin's Heat It Up can grant affected towers with lead-popping power. Glue Strike and Glue Storm abilities have become additional options since Version 29.0.

Lead-popping power was stripped from various towers, normally by downgrading from Normal to Sharp , and some now require a lead-popping crosspath to regain lead-popping. The towers and upgrades that lost innate lead-popping in updates includes:

• Icicle Impale blast damage (2.0)
• Icicle Impale freezing effects (25.0)
• Arctic Wind's slowdown without Metal Freeze (25.0, old name for Cold Snap)
• Snowstorm's ability without Metal Freeze (25.0, old name for Cold Snap)
• Apache Prime's lasers (25.0)
• The Tack Zone (25.0)
• Glaive Lord without Red Hot Rangs (26.0)
• Full Auto Rifle and Elite Defender without Full Metal Jacket (28.0)
• Bloontonium Reactor and Energizer without Heat-tipped Darts (29.0)
• Druid of the Jungle's aftervines without Hard Thorns but not its instakill vines (32.0)
• Carrier Flagship's aircraft darts and ordinary darts (41.0)
• Super Maelstrom's ability blades, but not the ordinary blades (41.0)

Some towers, however, gained lead-popping, including:

• Shrapnel Shot with Full Metal Jacket (21.0)
• Icicles' icicles with Metal Freeze (25.0)
• Hard Thorns (28.0)
• Spirit of the Forest on-track vines with Hard Thorns (28.1)

Trivia

• The fan term "lead detection" is a bit of a misnomer, if used to define the capability to pop Lead properties. While all towers have at least one possible way to target non-camo Lead Bloons, almost all of the towers that don't pop Leads simply cannot break the layers of them no matter the number of hits. The only reason why the term exists is due to the term "camo detection" for the countermeasure of Camo Bloons, and the term "lead detection" uses a similar principle, albeit misleading.
  • Some towers cannot target Leads at all without proper lead detection. Examples include Druid of the Jungle without Hard Thorns, Level 1-5 Psi, and all birds from Beast Handler except Pouākai.