Lead Bloon

“	Leads are slow and easily dealt with if you have the right towers. Otherwise, they could cause you some grief...	”
	~ Round 28 in Bloons TD 5

“	This area contains Lead Bloons. They can only be popped by certain Monkey types. Make sure you have Bomb Shooters or similar before attacking this area.	”
	~ Bloons Monkey City when the player is attacking a Lead Bloon area for the first time.

“	Lead Bloons are slow and heavy, but can turn a game against an unwise opponent. Research Heavy Bloon Armour in your Bloon Research Lab to unlock Lead Bloons.	”
	~ "Lead Bloons" Quest description

“	Camo + Lead = much pain. Hope you're ready.	”
	~ Round 59 in BTD5 Flash

“	Camo + Lead inbound.	”
	~ Round 59 in BTD5 Mobile

Lead Bloon
Information
Debut	Bloons Tower Defense 2
Appearance(s)	Bloons TD 2 Bloons TD 3 Bloons TD 4 Bloons TD 4 Expansion Bloons TD 5 Bloons TD (iPhone/iPod Touch) Bloons TD Battles Bloons Monkey City Bloons TD 6 Bloons Adventure Time TD
RBE	19 (BTD2-BTD3) 23 (BTD4-BTD6) 26 (fortified)
Parent of	Black Bloon x2
Child of	None (BTD2 - BTD5) Bloonarius the Inflator (Level 1 & 2, Bloons Monkey City Only)
Characteristics	Immune to sharp, energy, and ice (BTD6) Immune to sharp and energy projectiles (BTD5 and before)

The Lead Bloon is a unique Bloon that was introduced in Bloons Tower Defense 2. Lead Bloons have also been featured in every subsequent Bloons Tower Defense game, and also appearing in Bloons Super Monkey 2. Having a unique ability, Lead Bloons are immune to sharp projectiles as well as laser attacks such as the Super Monkey's Laser Vision, since they're made of metal. They move at the speed of Red Bloons and M.O.A.Bs. Being the only metallic Bloon in the BTD series, Lead Bloons are very easy to tell apart from other Bloons. Popping a Lead Bloon and its descendants rewards a total of 19 Money in BTD2 and BTD3 or 23 Money since BTD4. They first appear on round 20, 26, 29, 36, 37, 39, 41, 43, 46, 47, 48 and 50 in BTD2 and BTD3 and on round 28, 30, 32, 37, 38, 39, 45, 50, 59, 63, 69, 75, 90 and 95 in BTD4, BTD5, and BTD6. They contain 2 Black Bloons. Also, in BTD6, they can appear as fortified versions, gaining 3 HP (26 RBE).

Immunity

BTD5

The Lead Bloons are immune to any sharp projectile (except under influence of x-3 Monkey Village). They are also immune to other particular projectiles in addition. Below is a list of all the things Lead Bloons are immune to:

• Darts (Except 0-3 Super Monkey and X-2 Dartling Gun and towers influenced by X-3 Monkey Village in BTD5)
• Lasers (Except 4-X and 3-2 Dartling Guns and 1-3 Super Monkey in BTD5),
• Tacks and Spikes (except for 4-X Tack Shooter, 2-X Spike Factory, or towers influenced by X-3 Monkey Village in BTD5)
• Blades from Blade Shooter, Blade Maelstrom, and TOTMG (except with Tier-4 sacrifices)
• Nails from Monkey Engineers and Sentry Guns (except with Tier-3 or Tier-4 Engineer Specialty)
• Boomerangs and Glaives (except x/2 Boomerang Thrower and Glaive Lord's rotating glaives)
• Shurikens from Ninja Monkeys
• Sniper Monkeys without the Full Metal Jacket upgrade
• Gunshots from COBRAs
• Bees from Beekeepers
• Acorns from non-angry Angry Squirrels
• Spears from Tribal Turtles
• Bloonberry Bushes
• Bloonchippers without the Heavy Duty Suction upgrade
• Tornadoes (though popped by Tempest Tornado)
• Downdraft effect
• Radadactyls
• Grapes from the Grape Shot upgrade
• Frags from Frag Bombs

BTD6

In BTD6, Lead Bloons are also immune to any sharp projectile (except under influence of an x-3-x Monkey Village, a 2+/x/x Alchemist, or a Level 4+ Gwendolin). They are also immune to other particular projectiles in addition. These include:

• Darts (except Sky Shredder, Carrier Flagship), including 0/3/0 Robo Monkey
• Arrows (except explosions from level 7 Quincy or all arrows of Crossbow Master)
• Tacks without Hot Shots or their subsequent upgrades (except The Tack Zone and Super Maelstrom)
• Nails from Monkey Engineers and Sentry Guns
• Spikes without White Hot Spikes or their subsequent upgrades
• Brambles from Obyn Greenfoot or Spirit of the Forest (except Obyn Level 16+)
• Freezing effects without Metal Freeze or its subsequent upgrades (except Icicle Impale, but no longer damages DDTs without Metal Freeze, plus Absolute Zero ability)
• Wizard's main bolt (except Arcane Spike and subsequent upgrades)
• Lasers (except Apache Prime)
• Blades (except Super Maelstrom)
• Spiky balls from Spike-o-Pult
• Shurikens
• Boomerangs and Glaives without Red Hot 'Rangs or their subsequent upgrades (except Glaive Lord's rotating glaives)
• Grapes without Hot Shot
• Sniper Monkeys without the Full Metal Jacket upgrade or Tier-4 upgrades
• Downdraft effect and Druid of the Storm tornadoes.
• Frags from Frag Bombs or similar upgrades
• Caltrops dropped by Ninja Monkeys
• Thorns
• Shrapnel
• Shards from the Ice Shards and Embrittlement upgrades
• Buckshot

BATTD

• Finn's sword without special Weapons.
• Max's dart without Hot Tips upgrade.
• Jake's main attacks without Mace Hand or Big Jake Slap upgrade(s).
• Sam's main attack without Fireball or Forked Lightning upgrade.
• Supermonkey without Plasma Blasts upgrade.
• C4 Charlie's frags from Frag Bombs upgrade.

Effective for Camo Leads

BTD6

• Wizard Monkey
  • needs Monkey Sense, and either Fireball, Arcane Spike, or Necromancer: Unpopped Army.

• Sniper Monkey
  • needs Night Vision Goggles, and either Full Metal Jacket, Supply Drop, or Full Auto Rifle.

WIP

Strategies

Main article: Lead Bloon/Strategies

Update History (Bloons TD Battles Mobile)

Lead Bloons have not been buffed or nerfed much, but one minor change involves making Lead Bloons move slightly faster than a Red Bloon.

Version 4.1

Lead Bloon movement speed increased by 20%.

Gallery

Lead Bloons in BTD4

Lead Bloon in Bloons TD 5.

The Lead Bloon in Bloons TD 5 Mobile.

Camo Lead Bloon in BTD5.

Lead bloon description in BTD5.

Lead Bloon Icon as featured in Bloons TD 5 iOS

It is indestructible against physical attacks.

Lead Bloon In Bloons Tower Defense 2

A group of Lead Bloons in Bloons Tower Defense 3

Bloons TD 2-3 Lead Bloon

Bloons Adventure Time TD warning about Lead Bloons

Add a photo to this gallery

Trivia

• They are probably based on Metal Blocks.
• It is ironic that Lead Bloons, which could originally only be popped with Bomb Towers, contain Black Bloons, which are immune to explosions. This makes Regrow Lead Bloons deadly against a defense which relies on Bomb Towers.
• Leaking one Lead costs 23 lives. Leaking the entirety of round 28, the lead's debut in Bloons TD 5, costs 92 lives.
• Every tower is capable of Lead popping power except Banana Farm (which never pops bloons) and COBRA (BTD Battles tower only), but can be "defeated" with the x/4 Misdirection ability. This is not recommended, due to its relatively high cost.
• The only 0/0 tower capable of popping Camo Leads is the Monkey Buccaneer with the maxed out Specialty Building activated in BTD5 Mobile/Steam.
• Due to Lead Bloons being introduced in BTD2 and appearing in every subsequent game, players can no longer pass the game with only Road Spikes, Dart Monkeys, or Tack Shooters. However, this is possible in BTD4 or BTD5 provided that the player has the Splodey Darts premium upgrade or the Juggernaut upgrade in BTD5 for the Dart Monkey, and the Ring of Fire upgrade for the Tack Shooter.
• Pineapples can pop lead bloons with proper timing.
• The Super Monkey's Laser Vision upgrade as well as the Dartling Gun's Laser Cannon cannot pop Lead even though they're not sharp. This is presumably because Lead Bloons are made of metal and metal reflects light.
• The TV show Mythbusters created a real lead balloon, and despite common assumption, its biggest problem was not its weight. The lead was so fragile that it tore during inflation. They also built aluminum balloons, which apart from being an odd shape, worked perfectly well.
• It is one of 2 bloons to resist physical attacks not by using hit points, with the other being the Purple Bloon. It takes one non-physical hit to pop.
• One method of allowing a large number of towers to pop Lead Bloons is to upgrade a Monkey Village to Monkey Intelligence Bureau.
• The Monkey Apprentice's Tempest Tornado can pop Lead Bloons but can't blow them away.
• If affected by Arctic Wind, Permafrost, and glue at the same time, a Lead Bloon will move slower than a Z.O.M.G..
• A Sniper Monkey with the Point Five Oh upgrade can pop an entire Lead bloon since it can pop 7 layers.
• In Daily Challenge #136 (Precision Pineapples), all towers' upgrades that allow them to pop Leads are disabled. To pop leads, a Monkey Intelligence Bureau is required, or just use Exploding Pineapples to pop them.
  • Similar situation was previously in daily challenge #99 (Wait, What?); In this challenge however, even Exploding Pineapples are disabled, making Monkey Intelligence Bureau the ONLY way to allow popping Leads.
• Strangely in BTD5, a x/3 Super Monkey can pop Lead, even though it shoots darts.
  • One logical explanation is offered in BMC: it is stated in the description of the Special Mission "Phase Crystal" that the phase crystal powers the Robo Monkey's suit, (not needed for the Robo Monkey upgrade) and the fact that a 4/0 Dartling Gun Ray of Doom (which requires the Phase Chrystal tile) can pop Lead without the Depleted Bloontonium upgrade, so that could be why Robo Monkeys can pop Lead.
  • Strangely, in BTD6, they cannot pop Lead.
• Bloons Monkey City states that Lead Bloons are paradoxical, because they are made out of metal but still can float.
• In Bloons Monkey City Mobile, tiles that show the highest Bloon ranking as Lead Bloons contain Zebras instead, since Leads are internally considered stronger than Zebras.
• In BTD5 and BMC, the Lead Bloon "donk" sound is much higher pitched and slightly more resonant.
• It is the only Ordinary Bloon of BTD5 that does not have any parents.
• In BTD2, BTD3, and BTD4, the sound made by a sharp object hitting a Lead Bloon is the same as a dart/boomerang hitting a Metal Block in Bloons 1.
• In BTD5, the Lead Bloon is the only Bloon that does not appear as a Regen Bloon outside of Daily Challenges and Sandbox Mode.
• After update 4.1 in Battles Mobile where the grouped Zebra Bloons got more expensive, the grouped Lead Bloons that players can send on Round 15 started to become popular due to players being able to send them for only $200, as well as them being hard to defend against especially when combined with the Regrowth modifier.
• The Lead Bloon, as well as the Ceramic Bloon, are the only Bloons that can have the Camo, Regrowth, and Fortified properties.
• The Lead Bloon is the second weakest Bloon to not have a parent in the main Bloons Tower Defense series, the first being the BTD4 Camo Bloon.
  • In BMC however, Bloonarius the Inflator can spawn the Lead Bloon at levels 1 & 2.