Ninja Monkey (BTDB2)/Strategies/Countermeasures

Strategy Page This article is a strategy page, where players may share their ideas on how to optimize the subject in question. Feel free to add new strategies on this page! However, make sure the content you add is clearly formatted, unambiguous, and informative. Note for all contributors: If you're planning to add a new strategy section about your specific strategy, please make sure to add version numbers and dates to each new section, especially for the latest games.

The Ninja Monkey is a camo bloon specialist that can detect camo as a base tower. 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 Ninja user. Ninja's general weakness is grouped bloons, so try to overwhelm the opponent before they can afford the better grouped-popping Ninja upgrades.

General

Attributes	Ninja Monkey countermeasures
Role	Ninjas in offense form mostly a spaced popper and a grouped popper. They otherwise fill a supportive role to Ninja Monkeys and the general defense. One key advantage of Ninja Monkeys is their accurate Camo Bloon popping power at any tier. Counter-espionage decamos bloons and Shinobi Tactics increase range and pierce for Ninja Monkeys in range, adding a support role in that way. In terms of bloon types, Ninja Monkeys don't really have a weakness except for frozen and lead bloons.
Attack Speed	Ninja Monkeys have moderately fast attack speed. It can be increased through Shinobi Tactics.
Damage	The Shurikens that the Ninja Monkey throws themselves don't directly inflict more damage for most upgrades but the Ninja Monkey's alternate attacks can deal the chuck of the damage. Grand Saboteur deals tremendous damage to incoming blimps with its ability Starting from Sticky Bomb, its bombs can deal high burst damage to blimps.
Pierce	Ninja Monkeys pierce in its lower-tier isn't impressive, but it does start growing rapidly the high tier upgrade you go. Its pierce can also be buffed by Shinobi Tactics.
Range	Ninja Monkeys have Bloon Sabotage and Sticky Bomb and its subsequent upgrade to attack beyond its range. Other than that, the Ninja's Monkeys range is moderate.
Support	Ninja Monkeys have one buffing option available: Shinobi Tactics. It buffs the pierce and attack speed of all Ninja Monkeys in its radius.
Power	Overall, a Ninja Monkey is powerful in the early game with its Double Shot and Seeking shuriken combo. For Mid-Game and Late-game, Sticky bomb and Master Bomber + Shinobi Tactics are very viable as the main form of DPS against bloons and blimps alike.

Upgrade-specific

Path 1

Upgrade	Ninja Monkey countermeasures
Ninja Discipline	Due to it boosting the range for Shinobi's Tactics and Sticky Bomb upgrade, and being a stepping stone for higher top path upgrades, expect to see this upgrade a lot.
Sharp Shurikens	Gains 2 more pierce for a total of 4. Good early-game popping power if it can use all of the pierce of this upgrade. If you see this upgrade, then it's most likely they are looking to upgrade this further into a Double Shot.
Double Shot	Double Shot adds an extra shuriken equal to a sharp shuriken (hence the name, Double Shot). However, it's still vulnerable to long rushes of purple bloons so you can still rush the opponent even if they have a Double Shot. Double Shot barely keeps up against constant Grouped Blues. If the opponent does afford it, focus more at economy than rushes, and switch to stronger grouped sends once available. One single Double Shot is insufficient against constant Spaced Whites.
Bloonjitsu	Bloonjitsu has an all-round decent DPS through its 5 sharp shurikens per shot. Most opponents using Bloonjitsu like to pair it with Alch buffs, which combined makes them strong against general rushes but weak to very large grouped rushes.
Grandmaster Ninja	Grandmaster Ninja's incredible DPS shreds Ceramics and MOAB-class bloons when supported by other towers, usually Shinobi Tactics. However, the opponent will need to set it up quickly. Know that if the opponent does set it up, they would've spent a lot of money on defense.

Path 2

Upgrade	Ninja Monkey countermeasures
Distraction	Most opponents buy this as a stepping stone for cheap decamo or Shinobi Tactics; don't worry too much when you see this upgrade, as the Distraction effect is quite RNG and is only really effective against Ceramics.
Counter-Espionage	Note that unlike in BTD6, the shuriken does not need to damage the bloon to decamo it, so don't rush with camo leads, as it will decamo it. The opponent might go to Flash Bomb if they want to prioritize decamo. Grouped camo leads can overwhelm the decamo of a Counter-Espionage due to the leads suppressing all of the pierce.
Shinobi Tactics	Almost always seen in large groups, around a Sticky Bomb and/or Bloonjitsu for a large increase in DPS for Sticky Bomb and/or Bloonjitsu. Don't get too worried if you see a crosspathed Shinobi Tactics, as it does only a fraction of the DPS of the other Ninjas.
Bloon Sabotage	Bloon Sabotage slows down every single bloon on their screen by 50% for a limited time, but in this game the slow soaks through all layers and the Ninja must be on the map to keep the Sabo effect. The opponent will need to spend a lot of money to defend a large rush. Don't expect DDT rushes to kill off the opponent with a Sabo Ninja; the sabotage effect does the most impact against DDTs.
Grand Saboteur	Grand Sabo's strongest point is greatly weaking any blimp rush by immediately decreasing HP of all recently spawned blimps. This can cause an all-out rush to become much weaker, particularly beyond Round 30 where health ramping begins to skyrocket. However, it is expensive to place and does not automatically make them invulnerable to a very large all-out rush. To avoid confronting a Grand Sabo, rush sooner, which should reduce the chances for the opponent to reach arbitrarily high amounts of money, which otherwise leaves them with enough money to buy maximal defense and counterrushes.

Path 3

Upgrade	Ninja Monkey countermeasures
Seeking Shuriken	Allows the shurikens to seek bloons aggressively, making it a lot easier for the shurikens to use up all of their pierce. If the player upgrades the top path with this upgrade, then prepare for either Sticky bomb or Bloonjitsu.
Caltrops	Caltrops stockpile and last for quite a long time, like a Spike Factory, catching leaks and dealing damage reasonably well. Letting them stockpile over time will make it much harder to force First Blood.
Flash bomb	Camo Leads are no longer an issue for Flash bomb as the bomb can pop them. And the slow speed of camo leads means that the slow speed of Flash bomb won't get overwhelmed easily, especially with Shinobi Tactics. Flash Bomb has a very high pierce but deals only 1 damage. In combination with the stun effect, it is strong against Ceramics but rather weak against large amounts of Regrows without support or a boost.
Sticky Bomb	Do not send a MOAB when you see a Sticky Bomb as the sticky bomb can one-shot MOABs. The opponent may show their Sticky Bomb to deter early MOAB sends, or show it when confronted with a MOAB rush. Combined with the Sticky Bomb's reliable MOAB-class damage it will be difficult to kill the opponent with spaced blimp rushes. Either way, sending a MOAB should force the opponent to show it off; if you can see a Sticky Bomb, it's better to wait for a larger rush.
Master Bomber	Master Bomber sends stronger stickies that can be shot at any range. These stickies can stun blimps, making them an effective counter against DDTs when supported with buffs such as Shinobis. Master Bomber has weak BAD damage. Unless the opponent has a direct counter to BADs, an early BAD rush should defeat a poorly supported Master Bomber.

Crosspath-specific

Crosspath	Ninja Monkey countermeasures
4-0-1	Almost always is a Bloonjitsu crosspath with Seeking Shuriken, as it allows the Bloonjitsu to use up all of each of the shurikens pierce that it throws.
0-2-3	This crosspath can decamo quite a lot of bloons per bomb throw but it is quite slow. Fast bloons, like camo pinks, can get past the decamo of the Flash Bomb.

Synergy-specific

First	Second	Ninja Monkey countermeasures
Bloonjitsu	Berserker Brew	Similar to BTD6, Bloonjitsu with Berserker Brew makes for a cost-effective but deadly combo that efficiently beats up to middle-strength bloons. This combo is highly expensive in the early-to-mid 10's rounds. Without other supports, it will be weak to masses of normal Grouped Rainbows.
Bloonjitsu	Stronger Stimulant	Similar to the Bloonjitsu + Berserker Brew combo except the buff has full uptime and can apply the buff to more than one tower at a time. With this combo, it's much harder, if not impossible, to use a mid-10's rush to beat this combo. Significant amounts of boosted Grouped Ceramics, especially Grouped Fortified Ceramics, can get past a Bloonjitsu + Stronger Stimulant combo, provided the opponent lacks a Ceramic counter. Mixing with Grouped Leads also makes it harder to destroy the rush.
Total Transformation	Shinobi Tactics	Utilizing the fact that the transformed towers are still considered their base towers means that the transformed Shinobis still can receive the buff other Shinobis give, massively increasing the DPS of the transformation monkeys.

Other Advice

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

See also

• Ninja Monkey Strategies
  • General Strategy
  • Optimization Strategy
  • Countermeasures Strategy

Template:BTDB2 strategies