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Pre-BTD6
Shoots a single, heavy dart from both sides of the ship. Must be placed in water.
~ Bloons TD 6 description


The Monkey Buccaneer is a tower introduced in Bloons TD 4. It is an all-rounder tower with a decent rate of fire, 1 shot per second for a good price ($510/$595/$650). Monkey Buccaneers are operated by a monkey. However, it can only be placed in water. Since some tracks do not have water, strategies involving Monkey Buccaneers will not succeed. Depending on the map, it may be able to solo several rounds with the Battleship upgrade. It also makes an appearance in Bloons TD 5, it can be placed in water as well as in the Portable Lake.

Game appearances[]

Monkey Buccaneer makes up to 9 appearances:

Upgrades[]

Bloons TD 4[]

GrapeShotBTD4
Grape Shot
COST: $255 / $300 / $325
Description: Adds a volley of deadly sharpened grapes to the attack.
Effect: Self-explanatory
CrowsNestBTD4
Crow's Nest
COST: $130 / $150 / $160
Description: Allows detection of camo bloons for any towers in the radius.
Effect: Self-explanatory
LongerCannonsBTD4
Longer Cannons
COST: $155 / $180 / $195
Description: Increases attack range of the ship's cannons.
Effect: Self-explanatory
BattleshipBTD4
Battleship
COST: $1,700 / $2,000 / $2,160
Description: Total nautical domination!
Effect: Attacks three times as fast. Your rank must be 21 or higher to buy this upgrade.

Premium Upgrades[]

Dreadnaught
  • Dreadnaught is a premium upgrade purchasable since BTD4; the Monkey Buccaneer shoots flaming cannonballs that pops frozen and Lead Bloons instead of darts. Apart from being able to pop bloons it normally cannot, it has no other change besides its appearance.

Total Costs[]

Bloons TD 5[]

Please note that, while there are two separate paths, the player chooses a path when the third upgrade in a path is purchased. After you have bought the third upgrade in a path, you may only buy the first two upgrades in the other path.

Path 1[]

Faster Shooting
COST: $340 / $400 / $430 / $480
UNLOCK: TBA XP

Description: Shoots faster.
Effect: Self-explanatory
LongerCannonsBTD5
Longer Cannons
COST: $155 / $180 / $195 / $215
UNLOCK: TBA XP

Description: Much longer range.
Effect: Self-explanatory
DestroyerBTD5
Destroyer
COST: $1,870 / $2,200 / $2,375 / $2,640
UNLOCK: TBA XP

Description: Attacks super duper fast!
Effect: Self-explanatory
Aircraft Carrier
COST: $12,750 / $15,000 / $16,200 / $18,000
UNLOCK: TBA XP

Description: Rapidly launches Monkey Ace pilots that strafe the area with darts.
Effect: Adds three miniature Monkey Aces. They shoot a regular stream of darts forwards, and occasionally shoot 8 darts in all directions. Removes main dart attack.

Path 2[]

Grape Shot
COST: $425 / $500 / $540 / $600
UNLOCK: TBA XP

Description: Sprays out a blast of 4 sharp grapes for additional poppage.
Effect: Self-explanatory
Crow's Nest
COST: $215 / $250 / $270 / $300
UNLOCK: TBA XP

Description: Allows the buccaneer to detect and target Camo bloons. Does not grant detection to other towers.
Effect: Self-explanatory
CannonShipBTD5
Cannon Ship
COST: $1,020 / $1,200 / $1,295 / $1,440
UNLOCK: TBA XP

Description: Adds a powerful, independently firing cannon to the buccaneer.
Effect: Self-explanatory
Monkey Pirates
COST: $3,825 / $4,500 / $4,860 / $5,400
UNLOCK: TBA XP

Description: MOAB Takedown Ability: Grabs hold of the nearest MOAB Class Bloon and destroys it, ZOMG Bloons are immune to this.
Effect: Self-explanatory

Total Costs[]

Differences between BTD5 Flash and BTD5 Mobile[]

  • NERF Bombs fired from the Cannon Ship have smaller explosions.
  • NERF Base cost is more expensive ($500 → $525).
  • NERF Aircraft Carrier is weaker (particularly against Regrows).
  • BUFF MOAB Takedown Ability (Monkey Pirates Ability) takes less time to take down a bloon (4.0s → 0.5s), and still continues its normal shooting during the ability.
  • BUFF Cannon Ship bombs can be duplicated if the Buccaneer is under the influence of Monkey Fort.

Version History (Bloons TD Battles Mobile)[]

The Monkey Buccaneer is a fairly balanced tower, though at times it has been given a reasonable number of buffs. Some popular loadouts include Buccaneer Farm Apprentice (arguably the most popular loadout out of the ones listed, especially on maps like Swan Lake and Hydro Dam), Buccaneer Farm Boomerang, Buccaneer Farm Mortar, Buccaneer Farm Bomb and Buccaneer Apprentice Boomerang.

3.1
  • BUFF Aircraft Carrier price decreased ($15,000 → $9000).
4.3
Much like the Ace, the good old Buccaneer hasn't seen any balance changes for quite some time and still has relatively low use-rates. We've slightly reduced its base cost and taken quite a chunk off the Destroyer upgrade which should make it more viable in the early to mid-game.
~ "BTD Battles 4.3 Update Balance Changes"
  • BUFF Tower price decreased ($525 → $450).
  • BUFF Destroyer price decreased ($2200 → $1500).
4.9
The Buccaneer's Grape Shot was just too powerful for the price - especially when stacked - so we've slightly increased the cost to help combat that. On the flip side, we felt the Aircraft Carrier was too expensive when compared to how effective it is, so we've reduced the cost to make it more viable.
~ "BTD Battles Update 4.9 Balance Changes"
  • NERF Grape Shot price increased ($500 → $550).
  • BUFF Aircraft Carrier price decreased ($9000 → $7000).
  • NERF Cannon Ship bombs no longer duplicate when the Monkey Buccaneer is under the influence of Monkey Fort.
6.11
  • BUFF Aircraft Carrier strafe attack: 2x damage and half attack speed (darts that fly out in a circle unchanged)
  • NERF Grape Shot price increased ($550 → $600).
  • NERF Monkey Pirates price increased ($4500 → $4800).
6.12
  • NERF Destroyer price increased ($1500 -> $1600)

Quotes[]

Bloons TD 4
Monkey Buccaneer is a powerful mid-level tower for a good price. However they can only be placed in water.
~ BTD4 Round 41 Pre-Round Comment
Monkey Buccaneers can only be placed in water. They shoot a single heavy dart. Upgrades include Grape Shot, Crow's Nest and Battleship.
~ Description upon unlocking in BTD4
Bloons Monkey City
Monkey Buccaneers can only be placed on water but have fast firing weapons with high pierce. Powerful upgrades include: Grape Shot, Crow's Nest, Destroyer, Monkey Pirates.
~ BMC Flash description

Gallery[]

BTD4[]

BTD5[]

Trivia[]

  • In Bloons TD 5, the old artwork for the Monkey Buccaneer is now the artwork of Longer Cannons upgrade.
  • In Bloons Monkey City, the Monkey Buccaneer is one of only three towers (the others being the Sniper Monkey and the Mortar Monkey (unless it's the Caves Terrain)) not to be specifically restricted on any type of tile, even though it cannot be placed on the majority of them due to no water. However, some tracks in BMC Mobile have water, allowing them to be built on those tracks.
  • In Bloons Monkey City, the skull on the Buccaneer is the same skull that is on the ZOMG, just without the green eye sockets.
  • Aircraft Carrier interacts strangely with speed buffs. BOTH launch speed AND Monkey Ace shot speed increase when buffed: you get 4 times the darts under CTA, and 11.9 times the darts when simultaneously under CTA, 2/X village and Overclock.
  • This is one of the few towers that has a different image for each individual upgrade in BTD4.
  • In Bloons TD 5 Mobile, its unupgraded and first path 1 upgrade official artwork depicts it being strict and serious.
  • It only uses one set of cannons at a time, although it has two sets. This applies to BTD5-generation games only, as it can fire both cannons in BTD6.
    • However, the Buccaneer can shoot from either cannon in BTD5, just not both.
  • The Destroyer shoots grapes every 6 shots.
    • An Aircraft Carrier gains the ability to shoot grapes everywhere on the screen although it will not turn around.
  • Path 1 depicts the Buccaneer being more civilized by being a navy admiral ship, while Path 2 depicts it being barbaric by being a pirate ship.
    • Path 3 in BTD6 shows the Buccaneer taking a trader's path, with Merchantman being a trading ship, and higher upgrades turning the boat into a cargo freighter.
  • The Destroyer is comparable to the Epic Range Super Monkey, albeit shooting slightly slower with higher pierce and camo detection (when upgraded to 3/2).
  • This tower has more range than an unupgraded Super Monkey.
  • Strangely, Monkey Aces with Sharper Darts have darts with less pierce than those from the Buccaneer's even though they are smaller.
  • Aircraft Carrier's Monkey Aces shoot 2 streams of darts so one dart can pierce through 5 bloons, meaning it can pop 10 Bloons every time.
  • Because cells are largely composed of water, Buccaneers can be placed on the cells on the DNA Test track.
  • Some of the Monkey Buccaneer's Pictures are smaller than the original picture of the ship with no upgrades.
  • In the original artwork, the monkey is bailing out the boat.
  • In Bloons TD 5, when placing the Monkey Buccaneer, the ship is not shown to have cannons. This doesn't happen on BTD5 Mobile, as the cannons are shown before the tower is placed.
  • This is one of two towers that can be only be placed on water, other than Special Agents. The other is the Monkey Sub.
  • The Cannon Ship has exactly 15% more range than the Destroyer ship.
  • In Bloons Monkey City, the MOAB Takedown Ability will not give any cash for any bloons destroyed.
  • In BTD5, if the MOAB Takedown Ability is used on a partially-damaged MOAB or BFB (including a damaged D.D.T.), the blimp will appear to be "restored" to its initial health state as it's being hooked. This is due to MOAB Takedown technically instantly destroying the blimp, with the animation being a cosmetic mechanic only.
    • It may also be to save on stored memory, so that Ninja Kiwi doesn't have to program four different Takedown animations for each MOAB-class Bloon.
  • On Park Path, it's possible for a Red Bloon to outrun a 2/3 Monkey Buccaneer if said Buccaneer is placed in the pond in the center. This is because the track circles around the center, causing the bloons to always move perpendicularly around the Buccaneer.
  • There is a broken boat of a Monkey Buccaneer in the top right corner in Archipelago.
  • In BTD4, the Buccaneer is only ever seen shooting from its left cannon(s) and never its right, but as of BTD5 it shoots from both sides.