MOAB Assassin (BTD5)

For other uses of MOAB, see MOAB (disambiguation).

For the achievement, see MOAB Assassin (Achievement).

“	Special Ability: super deadly missile that seeks the nearest MOAB-class bloon and destroys it instantly. Does 1000 damage to ZOMGs instead of destroying them.	”
	~ Description in BMC

MOAB Assassin
General Information
Game	Bloons TD 5, Bloons TD Battles, Bloons Monkey City, Bloons TD 6
Tower	Bomb Tower
Unlocked at	Rank 24 (BTD5) 10,000 XP (BTD6)
Cost	Easy: $2880 Medium: $3200 Hard: $3455 Impoppable: $3840 BTD Battles Mobile: $3200
Activated Ability	MOAB Assassin
Targeting Options	First, Last, Close, Strong
Path Upgrades
Current	[[File:|48x48px|center|link=]] MOAB Assassin
Current	[[File:|48x48px|center|link=]] MOAB Assassin
Path Info
Path	2
Path	2
Upgrade Tier	4
Upgrade Tier	4
[Source]

MOAB Assassin (BTD5) is an upgrade to the Bomb Tower that made its debut in Bloons TD 5. It is the final upgrade for Path 2 for the Bomb Tower in BTD5, and is the fourth upgrade for Path 2 in BTD6.

Description

In BTD5, MOAB Assassin deals 700 damage to MOAB-class bloons, completely opening up to reveal the children bloon layers if enough damage has been done. When impacting on non-MOAB-class, it will deal 3 damage onto them.

In BTD6, the assasinate ability deals 750 damage to MOAB-class bloons instead, creating an additional explosion that deals 3 damage with a pierce of 100. In addition, it can no longer target DDTs without camo detection nor can it target non-MOAB-class bloons. Cooldown is now 30 seconds.

Besides ability changes, the BTD6 MOAB Assassin adds bonus range for its main attacks on top of the Missile Launcher and MOAB Mauler upgrades, plus additional MOAB-class damage (26 instead of 19), unlike BTD5.

Further ability details (BTD5)

In BTD5, the M.O.A.B Assassin activated ability does not work as advertised in its tooltip. Here are the steps it makes when activated:

1. It targets the highest priority bloon anywhere on the map, be it MOAB class or regular.
2. It freezes the bloon in place and instantly deals 700 damage to that layer only. This means it pops at maximum a single layer of a bloon. The targeted bloon is frozen in place and does not die until the ability animation is complete.
3. The damage is instant, so any remaining bloons after the first layer's destruction are immediately produced, despite the animation not having been completed.
4. The ability animation concludes with the rocket exploding on the original target. The rocket itself deals 3 damage in an area upon explosion. The 3 damage penetrates through layers. This means the MOAB assassin destroys one layer instantaneously, and, if the rocket hits the bloons that spawn from that layer, can remove an additional 3 layers for a total of 4 layers.
5. In conclusion, the total damage of the entire animation is 753 damage, via 750 damage instantly to a single layer (not layer-penetrating), followed by 3 layer-penetrating damage to bloons within range of the exploding rocket on the original target. The 1000 damage stated in the tooltip is incorrect, except in Bloons TD Battles Mobile.

This means the MOAB Assassin completely destroys nearly all bloons, MOAB class or not, and deals a further 3 damage to their children bloons. The only bloon not destroyed is the Z.O.M.G., which suffers 753 damage per rocket and requires therefore 6 MOAB Assassin abilities to destroy its outer layer (4k health). However, 5 rockets will place it into critical condition, requiring only slightly more damage than a regular MOAB to finish off. There isn't any power variation between the MOAB Mauler and MOAB Assassin except its ability.

There is also a strange effect, that, upon hitting a Ceramic, for example, will pop the top layer (10 damage), but when it is destroyed, it then attacks the rainbows inside, doing 3 damage as per normal and turning them into pinks. However, if it hits a rainbow bloon, the rainbow top layer will instead become zebras, and immune to the 3 following explosions, thus the MOAB assassin will deal 24 damage to a Ceramic, while only 1 to a Rainbow. This also applies to Camo Bloons, as they will be hit by the ability but not the explosions.

When it hits a Zebra Bloon, it will pop the top layer (Ability), then pop the White Bloon into Greens, then leave the Black Bloon.

Strategy

Main article: MOAB Assassin/Strategies

Differences Between BTD5 Flash and BTD5 Mobile

MOAB Assassin can destroy 2 B.F.Bs at once if the tower is under the influence of a x/1 Monkey Village.

Update History (Bloons TD Battles Mobile)

4.9

MOAB Assassin damage increased (700 → 1000). This means that Z.O.M.Gs can now be destroyed in 2 uses of the ability instead of 3.

Version History (BTD6)

Initial release (compared to BTD5)

MOAB Assassin ability can no longer attack camo bloons without camo detection.

MOAB Assassin ability can no longer be activated when no MOAB-Class bloons are on screen. While this is technically a decrease in power, it can actually be advantageous. This is because it prevents the ability from being accidentally wasted.

MOAB Assassin ability now has increased damage (700 --> 750)

4.0

MOAB Assassin missile now deals more damage to MOAB-class bloons (11 --> 16)

12.0

MOAB Assassin now has increased attack speed from the Missile Launcher upgrade (every 1.2s --> 1.02s)

MOAB Assassin main attack now deals +5 damage to Ceramics

15.0

• Base MOAB Assassin range increased from 44 to 54

16.0

MOAB Assassin main attack deals more damage to MOAB-class (16 --> 19)

18.0

MOAB Assassin attacks faster (1.02s --> 0.9s)

20.0

MOAB Assassin deals more MOAB-class damage (+18 --> +25)

MOAB Assassin deals less Ceramic damage (+5 --> +4)

Trivia

• This ability is best in rounds past 45 in BTD5, when blimps begin to appear.
• This is not advised to be the main defense against MOAB-Class because it can destroy only one MOAB at a time and leaves the children unharmed; it's probably a wiser choice to get a bunch of MOAB Maulers instead. It does however excel in those rounds where only a few very strong MOAB-Class bloons appear, such as rounds 46, 60 or 85, where a defense may initially struggle with the introduction of a MOAB or higher-tier class like a BFB or ZOMG.
• It takes exactly 26 MOAB Assassins to destroy a Z.O.M.G. (except its regular bloons).
• The MOAB Assassin ability is the only way for a Bomb Tower to pop camo bloons by itself (the ability will target the camo bloon if it's the strongest bloon on the screen). However, this is not recommended due to it's high cost and low efficiency, as it only pops a few Bloons at a time and can easily target a non-camo bloon by accident. But then again, it can be used to deal with the Golden Bloon, since it does enough damage to instantly pop it. In BTD6 this no longer works, if there's a Camo Bloon on screen the ability cannot be activated.
• Typically, pink or yellow bloons are too fast to hit with the rocket itself if the MOAB assassin is placed too far away.
• Black bloons are immune to the explosion but not the instantaneous damage; thus, they will only appear if the ability is used on a Zebra bloon, but are destroyed otherwise.
• In BMC, the ability prioritizes D.D.T.s over other MOAB class bloons because they are the highest priority target in the game.
• Despite the fact that it can destroy a BFB's outer shell, Monkey Pirates is the better choice on a water map, because it takes out the BFB, children and all.
• There is no animation of it actually being launched, instead the missile just flies from the tower.
• Even though it changes the tower's appearance, it does not change the attack speed or damage.
• The word "assassin" means someone who kills (assassinates) high-ranking people (judges, presidents, lawyers, or in this case high rank bloons).
• Players can use MOAB Assassin (BTD5) - Complete destruction technique to buffer through all layers of bloons. Get at least 50 MOAB Assassins. These will negotiate everything until a ZOMG, appears, in which case players can only blow 2 rockets as the storm of un-abilliated will crush the outer layer. Don't use the ability without reason, as this renders it slow against ZOMGs, meaning 10 ZOMGs placed far enough from each other will eventually crush it.
• In BTD Battles Mobile, the MOAB Assassin can be seen in the main menu.
• The missile from the assassinate ability looks almost identical to the missile of the MOAB Eliminator in BTD6.

Gallery

BMC artwork

The MOAB Assassin Tower

The MOAB Assasin missile from the ability

Many M.O.A.B assassins preparing to fight a Z.O.M.G.

A missile zooming down the rink.

When the MOAB Assassin ability is activated, camo bloons suffer from a glitch & become non-camo, while a purple circle radiates from the tower shooting a ZOMG looking missile.

The screen upon unlocking MOAB Assassin

The Z.O.M.G.-like missile zooming in Z Factor. (iOS)

The MOAB Assassin Ability missile

Mobile artwork

MOAB Assassin name change, alongside ability icon

A MOAB Assassin reloading in BTD6

BTD6 artwork

Bomb Shooter with MOAB Assassin

Crosspathing in BTD6 (left path 1, right path 3)

MOAB Assassin upgrade icon in BTD6

Official BTD6 upgrade icon, and also the ability icon

Instamonkey icon for MOAB Assassin