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Launches an exploding mortar shell to a fixed location anywhere on the screen.
~ In-game description

The Mortar Monkey is a Military-class tower that arrived in update 6.0 of Bloons TD 6 on September 17, 2018. The tower retains its role from the Bloons TD 4 and 5 Generation, with many new features and modifications, including a name change from "Mortar Tower" (although named "Mortar Monkey" in Bloons Monkey City). It was first teased on Twitter at November 16th, 2018, just a few days before Version 6.0 was released.

Mortar Monkeys launch explosive shells at any location on the map as set by the target reticle. At base, it attacks slowly and inaccurately, but packs a massive 2 damage per explosion with a large base pierce of 25 per explosion, and starts off with a blast radius of 20. The base Mortar has a projectile deviation radius of 18, meaning its shots will be centered anywhere around an 18 range radius from the center of the target reticle. It attacks every 2.0s, and each shell has a 0.5s deploy time between firing from the barrel and hitting the shell onto the ground.

When micromanaged properly, the Mortar Monkey is a powerful versatile long-ranged explosive tower. It comes with various upgrades to assist its power such as extraordinarily large and deadly explosions, hypersonic attack speed, stunning waves of shells, and utterly devastating incineration. It is also the only tower able to liberate the Cave Monkey.

It costs $640 on Easy, $750 on Medium, $810 on Hard, and $900 on Impoppable by default.

Description[]

The Mortar Monkey is a returning tower from Bloons TD 5, returning to Bloons TD 6 since the Version 6.0 update. Several changes have occurred from BTD5, the most significant example being that it can no longer apply Burny Stuff to Black Bloons, requiring MIB or other black-popping buffs (such as Striker Jones Level 5+) or special upgrades to apply the burning effects.

Like other versions of it, the Mortar Monkey still has one yellow stripe on the green military helmet it also wears in other games (which doesn't have a chin strap on it like actual helmets do). The mortar, however only has one yellow line instead of two like in the artwork of BTD5 and BMC, making it a lot closer to the model in the game. The base of the mortar has screws, but it still has the ability to turn around freely when the players change its target like in other games. Another thing can be spotted is that while in other games, the monkey is always to the left of the mortar, this game however, has the monkey to the right. The monkey no longer dunks mortar shells into the mortar cannon between shots. Instead, it now has a lever to pull, which will automatically reload and shoot the mortar in just a few seconds (with Heavy Shells and further upgrades, it presses a button on a remote control to launch attacks, particularly with even faster upgrades such as Artillery Battery and Pop and Awe).

Path 1 improves the Mortar Monkey's explosive potential. The first upgrade of this path is Bigger Blast, which increases the blast radius and pierce of the Mortar Monkey's explosive shells. Bloon Buster returns as a Tier 2 upgrade, increasing explosion damage from 2 to 3, a stepup from earlier games due to Mortar's high base damage. Shell Shock is a new Tier 3 upgrade that allows it to create a secondary explosion for each explosion, a shockwave that either stuns bloons close to it or damages bloons further out. The Big One further improves the explosion radius and damage just like its BTD5 counterpart. The final upgrade, The Biggest One, boosts its damage to 20 per explosion and an extra +20 to Ceramics and MOAB-class.

Path 2 increases attack speed of the Mortar Monkey and lets it gain special military-themed combat against bloons. Following a military theme, the first two upgrades Faster Reload and Rapid Reload both provide extra attack speed, while later upgrades allow it to become more powerful as a countermeasure to various types of bloons. Heavy Shells allows the Mortar to damage Black Bloons and deal bonus damage to a variety of different bloon types, specifically to Ceramics, MOAB-class, Fortified, Lead, and bloons affected by stunned status effects. Artillery Battery further increases attack speed for a greater performance at bloon destruction, in addition to gaining the Bombardment ability. Its Bombardment Ability unleashes a rapid fire attack in a slightly wider area. Pop and Awe gains much more specialized damage, permanently gains Bombardment's benefits, and gains a much powerful replacement for the Bombardment ability, the Pop and Awe ability. Activating it causes all bloons on screen to be perpetually damaged and stunned for an extended period of time.

Path 3 is a new path dedicated to accurate firepower. Increased Accuracy increases accuracy of the Mortar's targeting, allowing it to hit its intended location more accurately. Burny Stuff upgrades the attack to gain a burning napalm on bloons damaged by its explosions, causing affected bloons to slowly damage over time. The aspect of flammables remains largely untouched with its two further upgrades, but still sticks to the theme of accurate firepower. Signal Flare allows the Mortar to detect camo and strip camo off damaged bloons, while Shattering Shells further improves the aspect of removing special bloon properties by stripping any non-MOAB-class bloon property and removing fortified off any bloon up to BFBs. Blooncineration brings back the burning aspect of this upgrade path, firing barrages of searing hot explosives that deal immense burning damage to affected bloons and generate infernal blazes at the center of each explosion.

Target Priorities[]

Mortar Monkey has only one target priority, "Set Target". This allows the Mortar Monkey to land shells within anywhere inside the target reticle. Tapping on the "Set Target" button prompts the player to change the target position of where the Mortar Monkey will land its shells. By default, once the Mortar Monkey is bought, the Mortar Monkey's target reticle is placed near the start of the first bloon track.

If Striker Jones's Level 7+ Target Focus ability is activated, all Mortar Monkeys are automatically set to Follow Touch / Follow Mouse temporarily, unless manually re-targeted via Set Target, and snap back to their old Set Target option once the ability is finished.

Upgrades[]

Path 1[]

BiggerBlastUpgradeIcon
Bigger Blast
COST: $425 / $500 / $540 / $600
UNLOCK: 180 XP

Description: Bigger shells deliver a bigger blast radius.
Effect: Each explosion produces a large explosion radius (20 to 28), and increases main pierce from 25 to 45.
BloonBusterUpgradeIcon
Bloon Buster
COST: $425 / $500 / $540 / $600
UNLOCK: 600 XP

Description: Smash through 3 layers of Bloon at once!
Effect: Explosions deal 3 damage instead of 2.
ShellShockUpgradeIcon
Shell Shock
COST: $765 / $900 / $970 / $1,080
UNLOCK: 2,500 XP

Description: Blast shockwave stuns bloons at impact, pops bloons in a wider area, and increases Burny Stuff damage.
Effect: Creates a secondary shockwave explosion that stuns bloons close to the epicenter and deals extra damage further from the main explosion. Bloons damaged by the inner shockwave get stunned for 0.5s, otherwise taking 1 damage. When given Burny Stuff, deals 2 damage per tick instead of 1 and burn twice as fast. Explosion radius of main explosion slightly increased from 28 to 38.
TheBigOneUpgradeIcon
The Big One
COST: $5,525 / $6,500 / $7,020 / $7,800
UNLOCK: 15,000 XP

Description: Devastating explosions pop 7 layers of any Bloon type. Increases Burny Stuff damage further.
Effect: Explosion radius is even bigger (38 to 58), deals 8 damage per main explosion, stuns bloons for 0.75s instead of 0.5s, and increases pierce of main and secondary explosions from 45 to 85. When given Burny Stuff, deals 7 damage per tick instead of 2. Outer shockwave explosion now deals 2 damage and +2 damage to Ceramics, and can pop black bloons.
TheBiggestOneUpgradeIcon
The Biggest One
COST: $30,600 / $36,000 / $38,880 / $43,200
UNLOCK: 29,000 XP

Description: Blasts deeply through Bloons and layers over a huge area, plus powerful Burny Stuff damage.
Effect: Creates gigantic explosions (58 to 74) that deal 25 damage per main explosion, plus +30 to Ceramics and MOAB-class, and pops 200 bloons instead of 85. Shockwave explosion deals +20 damage to Ceramics. When given Burny Stuff, deals 50 damage per tick instead of 7. In addition, Shockwave explosion now can stun MOAB-class bloons for short time.

Path 2[]

FasterReloadUpgradeIcon 1912
Faster Reload
COST: $255 / $300 / $325 / $360
UNLOCK: 150 XP

Description: Increases the attack speed of the Mortar.
Effect: Gains +33% attack speed (an equivalent value from 0.75x attack cooldown).
RapidReloadUpgradeIcon
Rapid Reload
COST: $425 / $500 / $540 / $600
UNLOCK: 600 XP

Description: Even faster reload.
Effect: Gains another +39% attack speed (an equivalent value from 0.72x attack cooldown), for a total of +85% attack speed (0.54x attack cooldown).
HeavyShellsUpgradeIcon
Heavy Shells
COST: $765 / $900 / $970 / $1,080
UNLOCK: 2,300 XP

Description: Heavy shells do extra damage to Ceramic, Lead, all Fortified, and all stunned Bloons. Attacks faster and can also pop Black Bloons.
Effect: Explosions pop Black Bloons and deal +3 damage to Ceramics, +1 damage to Leads, +1 damage to Fortified, +1 damage to MOAB-class, and +2 damage to stunned bloons. Gains +33% attack speed. When given Burny Stuff, deals 2 damage per tick instead of 1.
ArtilleryBatteryUpgradeIcon
Artillery Battery
COST: $5,015 / $5,900 / $6,370 / $7,080
UNLOCK: 12,500 XP

Description: Bombardment Ability: Unleashes a rapid fire attack in a slightly wider area. Main attack does more damage to BADs and Boss Bloons and upgrades to 3 barrels for incredibly fast attacks.
Effect: 3x attack speed. Ability increases attack speed by another 4x and blast radius by +15%. Gain deal +1 damage to BAD and Boss Bloons. When given Burny Stuff, deals 3 damage per tick instead of 2.
PopandAweUpgradeIcon
Pop and Awe
COST: $27,200 / $32,000 / $34,560 / $38,400
UNLOCK: 32,000 XP

Description: Pop and Awe has permanent rapid attack speed and enhances the BAD and Boss damage of all Artillery Batteries. Pop and Awe Ability: rains explosions over the whole screen, damaging Bloons and stunning them periodically.
Effect: Ability stuns all bloons on screen repetitively every 1 second for 8 seconds. Main attack gains its previous Bombardment ability permanently. Bonus damage to stunned bloons increased from +2 to +8 and bonus BAD and Boss damage from +1 to +2. Also now grants all Artillery Batteries extra +1 to BADs and Bosses damage on screen. When given Burny Stuff, deals 5 damage per tick instead of 3.

Path 3[]

IncreasedAccuracyUpgradeIcon
Increased Accuracy
COST: $170 / $200 / $215 / $240
UNLOCK: 140 XP

Description: Makes the shots more accurate.
Effect: Reduces deviation radius from 18 to 8.
BurnyStuffUpgradeIcon
Burny Stuff
COST: $425 / $500 / $540 / $600
UNLOCK: 650 XP

Description: Damaged Bloons are set ablaze momentarily with each hit.
Effect: Affected bloons slowly deal 1 damage every 1.25s for 3.75s after getting ignited with napalm. Napalm is amplified by Shell Shock, The Big One, and The Biggest One.
SignalFlareUpgradeIcon
Signal Flare
COST: $765 / $900 / $970 / $1,080
UNLOCK: 2,200 XP

Description: Camo Bloons popped by flares lose their camouflage permanently.
Effect: Explosions produce wide non-damaging secondary flares that strip camo properties off any bloon hit, including Camo Blacks, Camo Zebras, and DDTs. Can detect Camo Bloons.
ShatteringShellsUpgradeIcon
Shattering Shells
COST: $8,925 / $10,500 / $11,340 / $12,600
UNLOCK: 12,000 XP

Description: Shattering shells strip special Bloon properties off all but the biggest bloons. Burny stuff melts through 5 layers with each shot and burns MOAB-class Bloons for extra damage.
Effect: Strips all Camo and Regrow from all bloon types with each hit, and strips Fortified from all non-MOAB-class bloons, MOABs, and BFBs. Also deals 5 burn damage to bloons instead of 1, and 15 to MOAB-class Bloons. With Bloon Buster, burn damage deals +3 damage per tick and deals 23 damage to MOAB-class bloons.
BlooncinerationUpgradeIcon
Blooncineration
COST: $34,000 / $40,000 / $43,200 / $48,000
UNLOCK: 35,000 XP

Description: Superhot burny stuff that incinerates MOAB-Class Bloons with ease.
Effect: Burns twice as fast and deals 100 damage to blimps per damage tick. Blazes (resembling Walls of Fire) are also produced at the location where the explosions landed, dealing contact damage to passing bloons. Explosions now also strip fortified properties from DDTs. With Bloon Buster, deals 8 burn damage per tick instead of 5, 150 to blimps instead of 100, and also gives +2 damage to the Blazes.

Total Costs[]

Easy:

Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3 Tier 4 Tier 5
Path 1
Base Cost 425 425 765 5,525 30,600
Cumulative Cost 1,065 1,490 2,255 7,780 38,380
Base Sell 297.5 297.5 535.5 3,867.5 21,420
Cumulative Sell 745.5 1,043 1,578.5 5,453 26,866
Path 2
Base Cost 255 425 765 4,675 27,200
Cumulative Cost 895 1,320 2,085 6,760 33,960
Base Sell 178.5 297.5 535.5 3,272.5 19,040
Cumulative Sell 626.5 924 1,459.5 4,732 23,772
Path 3
Base Cost 170 425 765 8,925 34,000
Cumulative Cost 810 1,235 2,000 10,925 44,925
Base Sell 119 297.5 535.5 6,247.5 23,800
Cumulative Sell 567 864.5 1,400 7,647.5 31,447.5

Medium:

Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3 Tier 4 Tier 5
Path 1
Base Cost 500 500 900 6,500 36,000
Cumulative Cost 1,250 1,750 2,650 9,150 45,150
Base Sell 350 350 630 4,550 25,200
Cumulative Sell 875 1,225 1,855 6,405 31,605
Path 2
Base Cost 300 500 900 5,500 32,000
Cumulative Cost 1,050 1,550 2,450 7,950 39,950
Base Sell 210 350 630 3,850 22,400
Cumulative Sell 735 1,085 1,715 5,565 27,965
Path 3
Base Cost 200 500 900 10,500 40,000
Cumulative Cost 950 1,450 2,350 12,850 52,850
Base Sell 140 350 630 7,350 28,000
Cumulative Sell 665 1,015 1,645 8,995 36,995

Hard:

Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3 Tier 4 Tier 5
Path 1
Base Cost 540 540 970 7,020 38,880
Cumulative Cost 1,350 1,890 2,860 9,880 48,760
Base Sell 378 378 679 4,914 27,216
Cumulative Sell 945 1,323 2,002 6,916 34,132
Path 2
Base Cost 325 540 970 5,940 34,560
Cumulative Cost 1,135 1,675 2,645 8,585 43,145
Base Sell 227.5 378 679 4,158 24,192
Cumulative Sell 794.5 1,172.5 1,851.5 6,009.5 30,201.5
Path 3
Base Cost 215 540 970 11,340 43,200
Cumulative Cost 1,025 1,565 2,535 13,875 57,075
Base Sell 150.5 378 679 7,938 30,240
Cumulative Sell 718.5 1,095.5 1,774.5 9,712.5 39,952.5

Impoppable:

Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3 Tier 4 Tier 5
Path 1
Base Cost 600 600 1,080 7,800 43,200
Cumulative Cost 1,500 2,100 3,180 10,980 54,180
Base Sell 420 420 756 5,460 30,240
Cumulative Sell 1,050 1,470 2,226 7,686 37,926
Path 2
Base Cost 360 600 1,080 6,600 38,400
Cumulative Cost 1,260 1,860 2,940 9,540 47,940
Base Sell 252 420 756 4,620 26,880
Cumulative Sell 882 1,302 2,058 6,678 33,558
Path 3
Base Cost 240 600 1080 12,600 48,000
Cumulative Cost 1,140 1,740 2,820 15,420 63,420
Base Sell 168 420 756 8,820 33,600
Cumulative Sell 798 1,218 1,974 10,794 44,394

Monkey Knowledge[]

This section displays Monkey Knowledge that has effects on Mortar Monkey and its changes when compared to one by default:

  • EliteMilitaryTrainingIcon Elite Military Training: All Military Monkeys get a one-off +1000 XP and earn XP in-game 5% faster permanently.
  • ExtraBurnyStuffIcon Extra Burny Stuff: Napalm from Burny Stuff will reduce the combustion interval by 0.25 seconds, pop Bloons every second instead of every 1.25 seconds.
  • PaintStripperIcon Paint Stripper: Mortar shattering shells strips Fortified from DDT Bloons.
  • BudgetBatteryIcon Budget Battery: Artillery Battery cost reduced by 600.
    • Cost reduced from $???, $6,500, $???, and $??? to $???, $5,900, $???, and $??? on Easy, Medium, Hard, and Impoppable, respectively.
  • MilitaryConscriptionIcon Military Conscription: First military tower costs only ⅔ of the original cost.
    • Mortar Monkey base cost from $640, $750, $810, and $900 → $425, $500, $545, and $605 on Easy, Medium, Hard, and Impoppable, respectively.
  • AdvancedLogisticsIcon Advanced Logistics: All Military Monkeys base costs reduced by 5%.
    • Mortar Monkey base cost from $640, $750, $810, and $900 → $605, $710, $770, and $855 on Easy, Medium, Hard, and Impoppable, respectively.
      • If Military Conscription is also enabled, the final cost will be $395, $465, $500, and $560.
  • MonkeyEducationIcon Monkey Education: All Monkeys XP earn rate increased by 8%.
  • BetterSellDealsIcon Better Sell Deals: All Monkeys sell for 5% more.
    • Increases sell potency from 70% to 75%.
  • VeteranMonkeyTrainingIcon Veteran Monkey Training: All Monkeys reload time reduced by 3%.
  • GlobalAbilityCooldownsIcon Global Ability Cooldowns: All Ability cooldowns for all Monkeys reduced by 3%

Strategy[]

See also: Mortar Monkey (BTD6)/Strategies

Summary[]

Mortar Monkey offers high pierce and generous amounts of damage with custom aim but generally low accuracy. While generally optimized for group-popping power, it possesses upgrades that add utility and specialized damage. Since the Mortar Monkey relies on a fixed point to aim at, a truly optimized Mortar Monkey requires micromanagement.

Tips[]

  • Set it near a curve or bend, preferably a region where bloons congregate a lot. Moon Landing's craters are a good example.
  • In Race Event conditions that enable Mortar, the normal route for Mortars is usually 1-0-0 into Path 2 upgrades, going straight to 1-3-0 for the extra attack speed and black-popping rather than 2-2-0 for the bonus +1 damage. However, for Time Attack with Mortar, 0-1-0 is usually bought first for the end-of-round cash from popping bloon rounds quicker.
  • One 0-0-0 Mortar is great against Round 4 Blues, although micro is still needed to reliably solo that round on single-lane maps.

Additional Strategies[]

Teasers[]

Let em have it!

Twitter teaser

It was teased a few days earlier on Twitter, on November 16th 2018, prior to the Version 6.0 update. On the post, it had the words "Let 'em have it!", followed by the following hashtags: #ninjakiwi, #btd6, #bloonstd6. Accompanied with the post was a 1960's style poster that reads "LET 'EM HAVE IT!" inside a red ribbon above a set of raining mortar shells.


Version History[]

Differences Between BTD5 and BTD6[]

Listed are comparisons of the Mortar Monkey in comparison to how they work in BTD5. Takes into account Flash and Mobile versions.

  • NERF Burny Stuff no longer applies napalm to Black Bloons or Zebra Bloons.
  • NERF Signal Flare costs more ($500 → $800).
  • BUFF Bigger Blast costs less ($600 → $500).
  • Change Several changes in path placement of the upgrades; some upgrades are moved to different paths. Increased Accuracy, Burny Stuff, and Signal Flare are now Path 3 upgrades starting from Tier 1 to Tier 3. Bigger Blasts is now a Path 1 Tier 1 upgrade. Bloon Buster is now the Path 1 Tier 2 upgrade. Bigger Blasts and Rapid Reload are now mutually exclusive for Signal Flare. New upgrade Shell Shock is the Path 1 Tier 3 upgrade. New upgrade Heavy Shells is the Path 2 Tier 3 upgrade.
  • Change Artillery Battery ability is now 4x speed and bigger blasts. Instead, the global stun ability has been moved to the new succeeding upgrade Pop and Awe.
  • NERF Artillery Battery no longer detects camo without support.
  • Change Artillery Battery explosions can pop Black Bloon properties but no longer has Burny Stuff.
  • BUFF Artillery Battery costs less ($9,000 → $5,500).
  • BUFF Cost of Bloon Buster decreased ($800 → $500).
  • Change Rapid Reload is now a Tier 2 upgrade; Faster Reload is now the former Rapid Reload upgrade. New Rapid Reload upgrade costs $500 on Medium.
  • NERF Faster Reload (the new version of the BTD5 Rapid Reload) costs more ($250 → $300).
  • Change Mortar Monkey's Footprint is now the size and shape of the mortar turret prior to placement, regardless of where it turns. This footprint is used instead of an unclear "center" spot between the monkey and the mortar turret.

Balance Changes[]

6.0 (compared to BTD5)

Note: Lists all balance changes implemented for the Mortar Monkey when it was first released in Bloons TD 6 (November 20th 2018) in comparison to Bloons TD 5. Takes into account both Flash and Mobile versions.

  • BUFF Initial release
  • NERF Burny Stuff no longer applies napalm to Black Bloons or Zebra Bloons.
  • NERF Signal Flare no longer removes camo from Black Bloons, Zebra Bloons, or DDTs. Additionally, an MIB or other black-popping grant is required to decamo Black Bloons or Zebra Bloons.
  • NERF Signal Flare costs more ($500 → $700).
  • BUFF Bigger Blast costs less ($600 → $500).
  • Change Several changes in path placement of the upgrades; some upgrades are moved to different paths. Increased Accuracy, Burny Stuff, and Signal Flare are now Path 3 upgrades starting from Tier 1 to Tier 3. Bigger Blasts is now a Path 1 Tier 1 upgrade. Bloon Buster is now the Path 1 Tier 2 upgrade. Bigger Blasts and Rapid Reload are now mutually exclusive for Signal Flare. New upgrade Shell Shock is the Path 1 Tier 3 upgrade. New upgrade Heavy Shells is the Path 2 Tier 3 upgrade.
  • NERF Artillery Battery no longer has an ability. Instead, it has moved to the new succeeding upgrade Pop and Awe.
  • NERF Artillery Battery no longer detects camo without support.
  • Change Artillery Battery explosions can pop Black Bloon properties but no longer has Burny Stuff.
  • BUFF Artillery Battery costs less ($9,000 → $5,500).
  • BUFF Cost of Bloon Buster decreased ($800 → $650).
  • Change Rapid Reload is now a Tier 2 upgrade; Faster Reload is now the former Rapid Reload upgrade. New Rapid Reload upgrade costs $500 on Medium.
  • NERF Faster Reload (the new version of the BTD5 Rapid Reload) costs more ($250 → $300).
  • Change Mortar Monkey's Footprint is now the size and shape of the mortar turret prior to placement, regardless of where it turns. This footprint is used instead of an unclear "center" spot between the monkey and the mortar turret.
7.0
  • BUFF 5xx The Biggest One damage increased from 10 to 20.
8.0
  • BUFF 1-x-x Bigger Blast radius has been increased slightly.
  • BUFF 4-x-x The Big One cost reduced $10,000 to $8,000.
  • BUFF 4-x-x The Big One blast radius increased.
  • BUFF 5-x-x The Biggest One cost reduced $30,000 to $24,000.
  • BUFF 5-x-x The Biggest One blast radius increased by a big amount.
  • BUFF x-3-x Heavy Shells now deals extra damage to MOAB class bloons +1.
  • BUFF x-x-5 Blooncineration can now damage all Bloon types.
  • BUFF x-x-5 Blooncineration price reduced $55,000 to $50,000.
  • BUFF x-x-5 Blooncineration now creates a wall of fire at impact location.
9.0
  • BUFF 5-x-x The Biggest One deals 3x damage to any Ceramic or higher.
    • Note: It is presumed the damage is additive, or +40 damage instead of multiplicative.
  • NERF 5-x-x The Biggest One price increased from $24,000 to $28,000.
  • BUFF 2-x-5 Blooncineration's Wall of Fire will now benefit from the Radius, Pierce and Damage buffs that the top crosspath offers.
10.0
  • NERF x-x-4 Shattering Shells price increased from $10,000 to $11,000.
11.0
  • BUFF 5-x-x The Biggest One larger shockwave radius now deals +20 damage to ceramics.
  • NERF 5-x-x The Biggest One bonus damage to ceramics and higher reduced from 40 to 20.
  • BUFF x-5-x Pop and Awe ability damage increased from 2 to 10.
  • BUFF x-x-5 Blooncineration can now remove camo from DDTs without knowledge being required.
  • BUFF x-x-5 Blooncineration price reduced from $55,000 to $45,000.
12.0
  • NERF 5-x-x The Biggest One bonus ceramic damage decreased from +20 to +10.
  • BUFF x-4-x Artillery Battery speed buff improved from 3x to 4x.
  • BUFF x-5-x Pop and Awe damage per second during ability increased from 10 to 20.
  • BUFF x-5-x Pop and Awe cost reduced to $30,000.
17.0
  • BUFF x-3-x Heavy Shells now deals additional damage to 'Stunned' Bloons +2.
  • BUFF x-5-x Pop and Awe now deals additional damage to 'Stunned' Bloons +10.
18.0
  • BUFF x-x-5 Blooncineration's Walls of Fire can now detect Camo Bloons.
21.0
Mortar's Faster Reload feels like a 'required' as a crosspath with Burny Stuff never scaling well on any path but its own. We like choices not requirements so to counter this we have made Burny Stuff scale with top-path damage & shifted a small amount of the speed from Faster Reload onto the base mortar and reduced base accuracy considerably.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • NERF Explosion random deviation radius increased (18 → 30). Does not affect Increased Accuracy, which remains at 8.
  • BUFF Attack speed without Path 2 upgrades increased (2.2s → 2.0s)
  • BUFF Attack cooldown with Faster Reload decreased (1.54s → 1.5s)
  • NERF Attack speed multiplier with Faster Reload reduced (+42% → +33%, 0.70x → 0.75x)
  • NERF Attack cooldown with Rapid Reload increased (1.07s → 1.08s)
  • NERF Attack speed multiplier with Rapid Reload reduced (+42% → +38%, 0.70x → 0.72x)
    • NERF Total attack speed multiplier with Rapid Reload reduced (+104% → +85%, 0.49x → 0.54x)
  • BUFF 3-0-2 Shell Shock, Burny Stuff damage increased from 1 → 2
  • BUFF 4-0-2 The Big One, Burny Stuff damage increased from 1 → 3
  • BUFF 5-0-2 The Biggest One, Burny Stuff damage increased from 1 → 25
22.0
We felt like we set up the math quite well with Mortar changes last update, but regardless of this missed shots due to inaccuracy vs. attack speed turned out to be unpopular and impacted the middle path too severely. Fortunately this change led to the community finding some critical bugs in the middle path upgrades there since Mortar's release! That said, since low tier Mortars were never powerful we chose to leave the speed buff from last update but revert the accuracy nerf. Additionally mid-path T5 mortar has had all of its T3 damage bonuses increased to better reflect its position as a Tier 5.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF Base random projectile deviation for the Mortar Monkey decreased from 30 back to 18.
  • BUFF Pop and Awe ceramic damage bonus increased from 3 to 12.
  • BUFF Pop and Awe Lead damage bonus increased from 1 to 4.
  • BUFF Pop and Awe Fortified damage bonus increased from 1 to 4.
  • BUFF Pop and Awe MOAB damage bonus increased from 1 to 4.
24.0
As an expensive high-layer T5 DPS tower lurking behind a mainly support path on path 3 Mortar it's not easy to save for, so Blooncineration has had a fair price reduction.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF Blooncineration price reduced from ($45,000 → $40,000).
25.0
  • NERF [Undocumented] Blooncineration's firewalls now no longer pop Purples and will disintegrate upon touching them.
27.0
Mortar Monkey has been given a T4 ability, since it didn't have one and also to make up for Bloon Impact no longer triggering 'stun debuff' on MOABs when it hasn't actually been stunning them.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF x4x Artillery Battery new ability 'Bombardment', for 8 seconds attack rate is increased by 4x & blast radius is increased by 15%, cooldown of 60 seconds
28.0
Bottom path Mortar burns have been reworked to burn faster and last longer at all upgrades; the Extra Burny Stuff MK has been tweaked in order to keep it's [sic] benefit the same comparatively to the new & improved base values.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF Burny Stuff DoT duration increased from 3s → 3.75s
  • BUFF Burny Stuff DoT tic interval reduced from 1.5s → 1.25s
  • BUFF Blooncineration DoT tic interval reduced from 1s → 0.75s
  • NERF MK: Extra Burny Stuff buff amount reduced 0.5s → 0.25s
    • Change Overall burn damage-over-time tick rate from Extra Burny Stuff remains at 1.0s for non-Blooncineration napalm
    • Change Overall burn damage-over-time tick rate from Extra Burny Stuff remains at 0.5s for Blooncineration napalm
  • BUFF [Undocumented, possibly a bug] Paint Stripper allows Shattering Shells to defortify DDTs
30.0
Mortar top path feels too weak for the lead up to the Tier 5, so it along with the T5 have had some general number increases. Additionally the 302 crosspath has failed to ever see a great deal of use compared to much faster firing, to make it easier to to use up power from the DoT this path will now burn through faster
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF Bloon Buster price reduced ($650 → $500)
  • BUFF Shell Shock price reduced ($1100 → $900)
  • BUFF The Big One damage increased (5 → 7)
  • BUFF The Biggest One main explosion damage versus Ceramics+ increased (40 → 45)
  • BUFF The Biggest One outer shockwave bonus damage versus Ceramics increased (+10 → +20)
  • BUFF 3-0-2 Shell Shock allows burn from this tower to tic twice as fast but also expires twice as fast
  • BUFF 4-0-2 The Big One, Burny Stuff damage over time increased from 3 → 5
  • BUFF [undocumented] 3-0-2 Shell Shock napalm with Extra Burny Stuff burns faster (1.0s → 0.375s)
33.0
It has been hard for The Bloon Solver & The Biggest One to exist so close in the same price range when they fill the same role but with The Biggest One being simply better and more versatile, so we have ramped The Biggest One to fill a better role but for a higher cost. Artillery Battery’s special stun bonus is completely ineffective against targets which are impossible to stun, so it is receiving a small damage bonus to these targets to compensate. Other similarly priced decamo options are able to decamo DDTs, so Signal Flare feels like a far lesser choice here having this basic decamo utility locked behind Monkey Knowledge, so that’s being freed up.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF The Big One shockwave gains bonus to ceramic +1
  • NERF The Biggest One price increased from $28,000 -> $36,000
  • BUFF The Biggest One can now can stun MOAB Class Bloons at a reduced rate
    • MOAB 0.3s, BFB/DDT 0.2s, ZOMG 0.1s
  • BUFF Artillery Battery deals +4 bonus damage to BADs & Bosses targets
  • BUFF Pop & Awe deals +10 bonus damage to BADs & Bosses targets
  • BUFF Pop & Awe now grants all other Artillery Battery +6 bonus damage to BADs & Bosses
  • BUFF Signal Flare can now decamo DDTs
  • BUFF Shattering Shells DoT damage per tic increased 1 → 5, Buff does not carry over to Blooncineration.
34.0
The recent Mortar 5xx rework significantly devalued 502 crosspath, undermining the work we previously put into trying to balance that choice, likewise 205 Mortar is not often used as base damage isn't relevant for Blooncineration compared to attack speed, following along with the idea of Top Path improving burny stuff damage in addition to base hit damage both of these paths will now benefit from increase burn DoT in such a way.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF 5-0-2 The Biggest One DoT damage increased 25 → 45
  • BUFF 2-0-4 Shattering Shells DoT damage increased 5 → 8
  • BUFF 2-0-5 Blooncineration DoT damage increased 5 → 8
  • BUFF 2-0-5 Blooncineration MOAB DoT damage increased 100 → 150
37.0
As the Rapid Reload crosspath has actually fallen behind in value compared to Burny Stuff for top path Mortars we want to try a slight stun duration increase as this buffs the base path with a larger benefit to Rapid Reload mortars as a stalling option. Mortar consistency is lacking at x3x making it tough to spend on even though x4x is fairly good, so some of the T4 rate is shifting down to help out with this. As the camo property has grown quite weak and currently Signal Flare is considered the best decamo tool, we want to push back slightly on its cost and by reducing the blast radius of the decamo area while emphasizing crosspathing for effectiveness there.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF The Big One stun duration non-MOABs increased 0.5s → 0.75s. Also affecst The Biggest One.
  • BUFF The Biggest One stun duration to MOAB-Class Bloons increased:
    • BUFF MOAB: 0.3s → 0.5s
    • BUFF BFB and DDT: 0.2s → 0.3s
    • Change ZOMG: remains at 0.1s
  • BUFF Heavy Shells attack cooldown decreased 1.08s → 0.81s. Does not affect Artillery Battery, which remains at 0.27s.
  • NERF Signal Flare cost increased $700 → $800
  • BUFF Shattering Shells price reduced from $11,000 → $10,900
  • NERF 0-x-3 Signal Flare decamo radius reduced from 50 → 43
  • NERF 1-0-3 Signal Flare decamo radius reduced from 70 → 63
  • BUFF 1-0-3 Signal Flare decamo bonus pierce increased by +5 → +10
  • BUFF Shattering Shells burn DoT additionally deals +5 MOAB-class damage
38.0
  • NERF [undocumented bug] Heavy Shells and above Lead/Fortified/MOAB-class damage bonuses no longer function
38.1
  • BUFF [bug fix] Heavy Shells and above Lead/Fortified/MOAB-class damage bonuses now function but are now mutually exclusive
39.0
We’re looking to shakeup mortar in a couple small ways this update, along with Striker Jones changes noted further on for ‘multi-mortaring’ synergy. From the base level Mortar has far more pierce than should ever be necessary at low rounds but doesn’t hit beefy enough for the low fire rate, so we are trading up some base pierce for damage, instead moving this lost pierce up into crosspath. To reduce the great feeling of loss that some players feel when upgrading to Pop and Awe & losing their Artillery Battery ability, this upgrade is seeing a stat rework that considers Artillery Battery as now always active at T5 instead of pumping up the damage numbers.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF 0-0-0 Mortar Monkey damage increased (1 → 2)
  • NERF 0-0-0 Mortar Monkey pierce reduced (40 → 25). Bigger Blast pierce remains at 45.
  • BUFF Bloon Buster damage increased (2 → 3). Does not affect The Big One (damage remains at 7).
  • BUFF Pop and Awe main attack explosion radius increased (20 → 23)
  • BUFF Pop and Awe attack cooldown reduced (0.27s → 0.0675s)
  • NERF Pop and Awe bonus Ceramic damage reduced (+12 → +3)
  • NERF Pop and Awe bonus Lead damage reduced (+4 → +1)
  • NERF Pop and Awe bonus Fortified damage reduced (+4 → +1)
  • NERF Pop and Awe bonus MOAB damage reduced (+4 → +1)
  • BUFF Heavy Shells and above Lead/Fortified/MOAB-class damage bonuses are no longer mutually exclusive
40.0
We’re ecstatic for all the Mortar love after the recent rework, however the two bonuses we left unchanged with the rework in order to leave a buff are… Probably a biiit much now and this has been far too significant an improvement, easily slotting Pop and Awe into an extremely high tier position over the past update. We don’t want to take this away, but are nipping those bonuses back slightly so it doesn't feel broken for our entire holiday break.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • NERF Pop and Awe BAD/Boss damage bonus reduced (+10 → +6)
  • NERF Pop and Awe damage bonus to stunned reduced (+10 → +8)
41.0
Such a heavily explosive based tower upgrade to ignore its explosive weakness on every path didn't sit right, some of the Normal damage type on top path is now trading in to make it stronger in other ways. BAD/Boss damage was used to help prevent middle path falling flat against strong single targets - but the more recent rework did farr better at bringing great power to this path so we're cutting back on those bonuses again now. Signal flare is too effective a cheap full map de-camo though a little unreliable due to the lower rate & low radius of de-camo, cost is increasing a little but also with greater radius for the de-camo area to improve reliability and a power buff at Shattering Shells for there to be more of a reason to path through Signal Flare rather than stop at it.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF The Big One damage increased from 7 to 8
  • BUFF The Big One shockwave damage increased from 1 to 2
  • BUFF The Big One cost reduced from $8000 to $6500
  • NERF The Big One main center explosion damage type changed from Normal to Explosion. Does not affect secondary explosions. Also affects The Biggest One.
  • BUFF 4-0-2 The Big One's Burny Stuff damage increased from 5 to 7
  • BUFF 5-0-2 The Biggest One's Burny Stuff damage increased from 45 to 50
  • NERF Artillery Battery bonus BAD and Boss damage reduced from +4 to +1
  • NERF Pop and Awe's buff to other Artillery Batteries' bonus BAD and Boss damage reduced from +6 to +1
  • NERF Pop and Awe bonus BAD and Boss damage reduced from +6 to +2
  • NERF Pop and Awe price increased from $30,000 to $32,000
  • NERF Signal Flare price increased from $800 to $900
  • BUFF Signal Flare camo removal radius increased from 43 to 52
  • BUFF 1-0-3 Signal Flare camo removal radius increased from 63 to 72
  • BUFF Shattering Shells price reduced from $10,900 to $10,500
  • BUFF 0-0-4 Shattering Shells bonus MOAB-class DoT damage increased from +5 to +10
  • BUFF 2-0-4 Shattering Shells bonus MOAB-class DoT damage increased from +10 to +15
42.0
We’re feeling quite happy about the overall state of mortar compared to how it has fared in the past, however the Burny Stuff crosspath is still very hard to justify on middle mortar so along with other DoT attacks in this update we’re trying out a slight increase to damage over time across this path.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF 0-3-2 Heavy Shells burn damage-over-time increased from 1 to 2
  • BUFF 0-4-2 Artillery Battery burn damage-over-time increased from 1 to 3
  • BUFF 0-5-2 Pop and Awe burn damage-over-time increased from 1 to 5
43.0
Artillery Battery use has really exploded (!) and over the past few updates it has been sitting fairly steady in a great spot, the current power level feels good but we don’t want to create too big of a gap from the T3 yet so only a very slight cost increase. Blooncineration’s 025 crosspath currently works so much better with external buffs so we're tweaking the 205 crosspath to feel better in some situations.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • NERF Artillery Battery cost increased from $5500 to $5900
  • BUFF 1-0-5 Blooncineration "Wall of Fire" blaze pierce increased from 25 to 36
  • BUFF 2-0-5 Blooncineration "Wall of Fire" blaze damage increased from 2 to 3
44.0
We’ve been happily taking our time on this since it's about time Mortar gets some spotlight, but the middle path has been overperforming far too much for a while now so it is about time to start pushing it up to a more reasonable price range for the power it brings.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • NERF Artillery Battery cost increased from $5,900 to $6,500
  • NERF Pop and Awe cost increased from $32,000 to $38,000

Bug Fixes and General Changes[]

7.0
  • Change 5-x-x The Biggest One has had a bug fixed where the range was not increasing upon purchasing.
  • BUFF 0-3-2 Heavy Shells should now apply Burny Stuff to Black bloons.
8.0
  • BUFF 4-x-x The Big One should now correctly damage DDTs when given detection.
  • Change x-x-4 Shattering Shells now counts damage dealt from fortifications being stripped.
  • BUFF x-x-5 Blooncineration burn duration fixed, it will now deal 1 extra tick of damage over time.
8.1
  • BUFF On desktop versions, Mortar Monkey can now pick a new location upon pressing the "change targeting" hotkey (Tab by default).
9.0
  • BUFF x-x-5 Blooncineration should be able to apply burn to DDTs.
10.0
  • BUFF 5-x-x The Biggest One can now deal damage to non-camo DDTs.
13.0 (?)
  • Change Mortar Monkeys displays Line of Sight (Mortar isn't affected by them though).
14.0
  • Change Mortar Monkeys no longer display Line of Sight.
15.0
  • The mortar's projectiles should no longer visually drop back down the barrel.
17.0
  • Burny Stuff should no longer gain MIB buff icon from any distance.
  • Blooncineration fire assets updated.
20.0
  • 5-x-x The Biggest One description updated as it deals much more damage now.
  • x-5-x Artillery Battery description updated as 'triple pain' doesn't describe 4x attack speed very well.
21.0
  • Resolved an issue with selling mortars leaving target circles on screen.
22.0
  • x4x Artillery Battery issues resolved with ejection point.
  • BUFF x-4-x Artillery Battery issues resolved with crosspath application.
  • BUFF x-5-x Pop and Awe active ability now lasts between rounds.
23.0
  • x-x-4 Shattering Shells removing fortification should now reflect the children Bloons losing their fortification as well towards the damage counter.
24.0
  • x-x-2 Burny Stuff description has been updated with more detail.
25.0
  • NERF Blooncineration's firewalls can no longer damage Purple Bloons and will disintegrate upon contact.
38.0
  • Change Shattering Shells description changed from "Shattering shells strip all bloon properties off all but the biggest bloons." to "Shattering shells strip special Bloon properties off all but the biggest bloons. Burny stuff melts through 5 layers with each shot and burns MOAB-class Bloons for extra damage."
  • Change Blooncineration description changed from "Superhot burny stuff melts through 5 layers of bloon each shot, burns MOAB class bloons for extra damage, and strips DDT camo." to "Superhot burny stuff that incinerates MOAB-Class Bloons with ease."

Sounds[]

When a Mortar Monkey is placed on screen:

Gallery[]

Teasers[]

Official artwork[]

Other assets[]

Trivia[]

  • Mortar Monkey is the first tower to be added in an Bloons TD 6 update.
  • The name "Mortar Monkey" is not entirely new. In Bloons Monkey City, the Mortar Tower was consistently referred to as "Mortar Monkey".
  • When the Mortar Monkey was first released, it had 3 upgrades that costed $500 on Medium. Starting from Version 30.0, which lowered the cost of Bloon Buster, this has subseuqently risen the count to 4.

Blog Posts[]

  • Ninja Kiwi has discussed the idea of a follow mouse option for Mortars as Monkey Knowledge before, but at the time did not have any plans to incorporate this in BTD6.[1]
    • Follow Touch for Mortars has since been incorporated into BTD6 since Version 39.0, with the introduction of Striker Jones' Level 7 ability, Target Focus, which temporarily forces all Mortars into Follow Touch and increases accuracy of each shot.

References[]