Monkey Sub (BTDB2)/Strategies/Countermeasures

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The Monkey Sub is a versatile water tower that can counter various bloon types. It is not as powerful as they are in BTD6, given the new competitive circumstances, but they are quite the middle ground powerful tower in this game as of currently, making it somewhat of a challenge to fight against a Sub user. Sub's general weakness is grouped bloons, so try to overwhelm the opponent before they can afford the better grouped-popping Sub upgrades.

General

Attributes	Monkey Sub countermeasures
Role	Subs in offense form mostly a spaced popper and a decent grouped popper. They otherwise are supporting DPS roles in a Battles setting. Submerge and Support and Bloontonium Reactor both decamo, adding a support role in that way.
Attack Speed	Subs are fairly quick in their attack speed, but not very fast.
Damage	Most Sub upgrades themselves don't directly inflict more damage, but their Airburst upgrade allows for additional darts to produce from each shot. Armor Piercing Darts deals much more MOAB-class damage. First Strike ability missiles deal huge damage per shot.
Pierce	Monkey Sub's pierce is somewhat low, until they get Airburst Darts and/or Bloontonium Reactor. Airburst Darts with Barbed Darts gives Sub a respectable amount of popping power per attack, piercing through grouped bloons well.
Range	Subs have Advanced Intel, which makes them advance at high range.
Support	Monkey Subs have one buffing option available: Sub Commander. It buffs the pierce and damage of all subs in its radius. Subs can also decamo bloons wby having the Submerge and Support and Bloontonium Reactor upgrades, giving them a supporting role against Camos.
Power	Overall, a Monkey Sub is powerful in the early-game with its group-popping Airburst Darts, has a...

Upgrade-specific

Path 1

Upgrade	Monkey Sub countermeasures
Longer Range	There is not much to say for this upgrade, as all it does is increase range. Use standard Sub countermeasures.
Advanced Intel	Advanced Intel allows for Subs to reach almost anywhere on screen. Grouped rushes may overwhelm the advantageous range of these Subs.
Submerge and Support	Opponents who pull out a Submerge and Support are trying to prepare to counter Camo rushes. Try opting for other rushes that do not involve camo, or rush with some Camos if they have got a bad submersion spot. 3-0-0 isn't enough to beat Grouped Camo Purples. If the opponent's defenses are further back, go for a Grouped Camo Purple rush, which should bait a boost if not death.
Bloontonium Reactor	Reactor is expensive but reliably defends against grouped lower-tier rushes, decamos pretty quickly, and overall has great cleanup. Against a Reactor user, it is a good idea to wait for an opportunity to send strong grouped rushes instead, or just wait till MOAB-class bloons unlock.
Energizer	Not commonly seen in battles, but if it does appear, expect ability cooldowns to come up much faster.

Path 2

Upgrade	Monkey Sub countermeasures
Barbed Darts	Slightly better grouped popping power. While still weak against grouped bloons until Airburst is bought, keep up the rush against the opponent in the early-game.
Heat-Tipped Darts	An opponent will usually buy Heat-Tipped Darts in itself to discourage Lead sends or to synergize with Ice Monkeys. It pairs well with as a crosspath for Airburst Darts or Reactor; react to those upgrades accordingly.
Ballistic Missile	Ballistic Missile has fair MOAB-class damage, although it falls victim to multiple MOABs or stronger and faster blimps.
First Strike Capability	First Strike Capability is capable of one-shotting BADs and ZOMGs. If you see a First Strike, know that sending high-HP blimps won't be so easy to do. To counter a First Strike user, sending a mix of multiple BADs and/or several Fortified DDTs may overwhelm the opponent, forcing them to choose between one-shotting the BADs and directly fighting off the Fortified DDTs. First Strike has an initial cooldown. If the opponent tries to sell-and-rebuy to get up First Strikes all over, they are trying to destroy high-HP blimps quickly. Sending a single ZOMG may potentially trigger a First Strike to be summoned on screen; if the opponent does pull out their First Strike, take note of this.
Pre-Emptive Strike	Pre-Emptive Strike instantly deals high damage to any blimp incoming from the entrance(s) of a map. This is strong against large groups of weaker blimps, but the opponent will still need to handle the Ceramics underneath. Pre-Emptive Strike's auto-missile attack is effective against DDTs but falls back to Fortified DDTs and freeplay ramping. Note that Sub Commander and other supporting towers can further benefit both the Pre-Emptive and each other.

Path 3

Upgrade	Monkey Sub countermeasures
Twin Guns	Doubles attack speed, making it somewhat better against spaced bloons as well as improving attack speed for other attacks such as Submerge and Support. Keep up the pressure if the opponent tries to buy Twin Guns to survive against a rush.
Airburst Darts	Airburst Darts splits darts into three, inflicting a large amount of extra popping power. A solo Airburst Darts can survive well against Grouped Blues and works well against Spaced Yellows, but not so for Grouped Greens and Spaced Pinks or Spaced Whites.
Triple Guns	Triple Guns further increases the power of Airburst Darts. Treat it as if it's Airburst Darts, but pay attention to the attack speed of this tower; denser groups of bloons will be required to beat Triple Guns. Players who use Triple Guns often pair it with buffs such as Alch buff, making them a deadly duo.
Armor Piercing Darts	Armor Piercing Darts is deals high MOAB-class damage but is weak to large groups of bloons for its price. Sending spaced MOABs is a poor option against an Armor Piercing Darts user, but sending a BFB could potentially do trouble for them.
Sub Commander	Sub Commander's double damage and bonus pierce makes a Sub army relentless against bloons, and comes with a noteworthy synergy with Pre-Emptive Strike that makes it even harder to rush DDTs. Densely packed blimps are strong against Sub Commander; blimps may pop quickly but the Ceramics underneath can potentially kill the opponent if they lack support against them.

Crosspath-specific

Crosspath	Monkey Sub countermeasures
3-0-0	An uncrosspathed Submerge and Support is too slow to decamo prolonged Camo rushes. Send longer groups of rushes, such as large waves of Camo Purples, which should force them to further upgrade their sub immediately or else risk death. This can be taken advantage of if the opponent focuses too much on mixing eco with obvious defensive measures.
4-2-0	A Heat-Tipped Reactor has a reasonably high pierce and pops Frozen and Lead, but slower than the Airburst Reactor. It may be better to avoid sending an offensive rush until unlocking Grouped Ceramics. If the opponent only uses a 4-2-0 Reactor for grouped damage, a sustained boosted Purple rush can overwhelm it.
4-0-2	An Airburst Reactor destroys bloons much faster than normal but has only moderate pierce. There is an opportunity to send large, dense groups of middle-strength bloons, if the Reactor is not backed up properly by superior grouped poppers.
0-1-2	0-1-2 Subs have a large amount of pierce but are limited by range. They will not necessarily have enough firepower to counter dense, long grouped rushes.
2-0-2	Airburst Subs with Intel have a huge range advantage over pierce. However, without buffs it isn't very effective against dense rushes, including Grouped Yellows. Newer players sometimes may blindly use this crosspath, thinking it is the unanimously "superior" crosspath for Airburst. Try taking advantage of this behavior by sending in large dense rushes or long sustained rushes.

Synergy-specific

First	Second	Monkey Sub countermeasures
Triple Guns	Berserker Brew	Similar to BTD6, Triple Guns with Berserker Brew makes for a cost-effective but deadly combo that efficiently beats up to middle-strength bloons. Both 2-0-3 and 0-1-3 (or 0-2-3) are deadly combos; react accordingly by crosspath choice of the Sub.
Pre-Emptive Strike	Sub Commander	Combining both of these towers makes them relentless against DDTs, but is very expensive and falls behind once freeplay ramping hits, and is weak to multiple BADs.

Other Advice

• If you see the opponent's Monkey Subs having their respective unique cosmetics, the opponent has unlocked all upgrades for Sub. In that case, prepare for all possible upgrades.

See also

• Monkey Sub Strategies
  • General Strategy
  • Optimization Strategy
  • Countermeasures Strategy

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