| “ | The complete assassin package for dealing with any Bloon threat. | ” |
| ~ BTD6 description of the Ascended Shadow Ninja |
The Ascended Shadow is the Paragon upgrade of the Ninja Monkey that was added to Bloons TD 6 in the 28.0 update. Combining major features from the Grandmaster Ninja, Grand Saboteur, and Master Bomber, the Ascended Shadow throws 8 large Shurikens that seek out Bloons. Every 8 shots, the Ascended Shadow throws 5 flash bombs that explode into 3 smaller blue seeking Shurikens. Both flash bombs and blue seeking Shurikens can stun any Bloons besides BAD or Boss bloons for 1 second. With the Deadly Tranquility Monkey Knowledge enabled, 1 projectile is added to each of these attacks. Additionally, the Ascended Shadow throws a sticky Card at the strongest MOAB-Class Bloon on screen. All of these attacks deal enormous damage to all bloon types with bonus damage to Camo Bloons and Boss Bloons only. The Ascended Shadow passively grants all towers on the screen Camo Detection, applies a permanent 50% speed reduction to all bloons other than BADs and Boss Bloons, and inherits the Grand Saboteur's ability to make all bloons besides Bosses to spawn with 25% less HP permanently.
The Ascended Shadow is obtained by having one of each tier 5 Ninja Monkey and purchasing the upgrade which subsequently consumes all Ninja Monkeys on screen. The Degree of the Ascended Shadow ranges from 1-100 and is determined by total cost, pop count, upgrades, and number of Ninja Monkeys sacrificed as explained here. As with all Paragons, the Ascended Shadow cannot receive buffs from any external sources except for the "Paragon of Power" Monkey Knowledge (and from the debuffing status effects of Cripple MOAB, Glue Storm, and Super Brittle). Additionally, Ascended Shadow is unobtainable in Sandbox Mode until it has been created in a real game, but can be created in Challenge Editor without any prior requirements.
Upgrading to this Paragon costs $425,000 on Easy, $500,000 on Medium, $540,000 on Hard, and $600,000 on Impoppable. To max out on manual cash sacrifices starting from v39.0, the player must spend at least $1,275,000 on Easy, $1,500,000 on Medium, $1,620,000 on Hard, and $1,800,000 on Impoppable; before v39.0, the max cash sacrifices was $250,000. With max slider, these costs increase to $1,338,750 on Easy, $1,575,000 on Medium, $1,701,000 on Hard, and $1,890,000 on Impoppable.
Description[]
Overview[]
Ascended Shadow and all three Tier 5 Ninja Monkeys
The Ascended Shadow strongly resembles Oni Demons from Japanese folklore. The monkey is fully garbed in a black robe, brown sandals, billowing scarf, mechanical red arms, and two red horns that puncture its woven Kasa hat. Prominent features include a devilish smile, sharply protruding jaws, glowing green eyes (2 in the upgrade portrait, 1 on the in-game tower), and the recurrent BTD6 spirals adorned throughout the body. Animating the Ascended Shadow are two lime-green mist clouds which orbit the tower in a clockwise manner, as well as a continuous stream of falling Cherry Blossom petals (perhaps to represent the infinite duration of the MOAB Slowdown effect, as is shown with the Grand Saboteur). The Ascended Shadow has three idle animations: a shuriken toss, a backflip, and a head roll.
As part of its primary attack, the Ascended Shadow throws large seeking shurikens, red-hot flash bombs, and sticky bombs. The flash bombs explode apart into three smaller blue seeking shurikens. The sticky bombs are visually replaced by a group of magical paper talismans that adhere to MOAB Class bloons, as shown by the upgrade icon. These talismans have a spiral, and strongly resemble a simplified version of the Monkey Knowledge cards in Bloons Monkey City. However, they are more likely a reference to Shinto and Buddhist Ofuda talismans that are popular in anime series like Naruto. For the purpose of consistency, the following article will still refer to this attack as Sticky Bomb.
Every 20 degrees, the Ascended Shadow gains a more erratic appearance, with an enlarged eye, more horns, a burning-flame on the hat, frillier scarf scarf designs, and orbital talismans.
Like other Paragons, all of these visual elements are taken from the constituent tier 5 towers which, themselves, are based on many elements of Japanese culture like the Grandmaster Ninja's woven hat, the Grand Saboteur's black Ninja garb, and the Master Bomber's Oni mask. The "Ascended" part of the name refers to the powerful nature of the Paragon, while "Shadow" retains the stealthy nature of the Ninja Monkey.
Targeting Priorities[]
Ascended Shadow targets bloons using the standard targeting priorities. It has multiple types of attacks that are shot in different styles.
- First: Targets the first bloon visible within its range.
- Last: Targets the last bloon visible within its range.
- Close: Targets the closest bloon visible within its range.
- Strong: Targets the strongest bloon visible within its range.
Shurikens are shot in a straight movement, and can sharply seek towards another bloon with aggressive seeking. Bombs are also shot in a straight movement, but do not seek unlike shurikens. Sticky cards are shot straight and have extended range, and only target MOAB-class. The global Bloon Sabotage is a whole screen effect that targets any bloon but does not slow BADs or Bosses.
Ascended Shadow is one of the only Paragons to receive Camo Prioritization, allowing it to prioritize Camo Bloons (especially DDTs) over other types of bloon.
Monkey Knowledge Interactions[]
The following Monkey Knowledge Points directly affect the Ascended Shadow:
Lingering Magic: Projectiles fired from all Magic Monkeys (except Alchemists) have longer lifespan.
- Projectiles last 20% longer, from x seconds → 1.2x seconds.
- Diversion Tactics: Increased chance to distract Bloons from Distraction upgrade.
- Increases chance of Distraction effect occurring by an additional 5%, to a total of 20%.
- Deadly Tranquility: Bloonjitsu, Grandmaster Ninja, and Ascended Shadow get an extra shuriken per throw.
- Increases Ascended Shadow shuriken count from 8 to 9, and throws an extra flash bomb.
- Better Sell Deals: All Monkeys sell for 5% more.
- Increases sell potency from 70% to 75%.
- Veteran Monkey Training: All Monkeys reload time reduced by 3%.
- Paragon of Power: Any paragon will gain a large boost to its attack speed so long as you have no T5s of the same tower type placed
The following Monkey Knowledge Points do affect Ascended Shadow but only purely indirectly:
- Cheaper Doubles: Ninja Double Shot cost reduced by 100. [note: this is a small benefit for Ascended Shadow]
- Cost of Double Shot reduced from $720, $850, $920, $1,020 to $620, $750, $820, $920 on each difficulty.
- Monkey Education: All Monkeys XP earn rate increased by 8%.
Creation[]
The Ascended Shadow can be created by having one of each Tier 5 Ninja Monkey on screen, at which point, the upgrade icon for the Ascended Shadow will become available on any of the Tier 5 Ninja Monkeys. Purchasing the upgrade will change the selected Ninja Monkey into the Ascended Shadow, while sacrificing every other Ninja Monkey on screen (including those belonging to co-op players). Only one Ascended Shadow may exist at a time, even in co-op.
Paragon Power[]
The degree of the Ascended Shadow depends on a hidden value known as "power", which itself depends on the amount of tier 5 upgrades, non-tier 5 upgrades, cash, and pops of sacrificed Ninja Monkeys, as well as any Paragon Power Totems on the map. In addition to cosmetic changes every 20 degrees, a higher degree will elevate the damage output of the Ascended Shadow. Power is calculated as follows:
- Each Tier 5 Ninja Monkey will contribute 6,000 power for a maximum of 50,000 power (9 Tier 5 upgrades). Excludes the first three Tier 5 Ninja Monkeys.
- Each non-Tier 5 Ninja Monkey upgrade will contribute 100 power for a maximum of 10,000 power (100 non-Tier 5 upgrades). Excludes the first three Tier 5 Ninja Monkeys.
- Every $21.25 / $25 / $27 / $30 spent on sacrificed Ninja Monkeys will contribute 1 power for a maximum of 60,000 power ($1,275,000 / $1,500,000 / $1,620,000 / $1,800,000 spent). Excludes the three cheapest Tier 5 Ninja Monkeys.
- Alternatively, cash can be injected into the Paragon directly with 5% reduced efficiency.
- Every 180 pops achieved by sacrificed Ninja Monkeys will contribute 1 power for a maximum of 90,000 power (16,200,000 pops). [1] Includes the first three Tier 5 Ninja Monkeys.
- Round 132 is the first round where the game's cumulative RBE exceeds this threshold. Waiting until round 136 before upgrading to Ascended Shadow should provide enough buffer to achieve the 16,200,000 pops, assuming Ninja Monkeys are responsible for 80% of all pops until that point. These rounds will be earlier on Double HP MOABs or Boss Events due to the increased RBE from Boss Bloons and MOABs, so it is always best to confirm by calculating manually.
- Each Paragon Power Totem contributes an additional 2,000 power, with no limit.
Assuming no Paragon Power Totems, a maximum of 160,000 power is obtainable in single-player, and 210,000 power is achievable in co-op, though only up to 200,000 power is actually used.
Degree roughly scales with the natural logarithm of power, so there is no unique set of upgrades, prices, etc. that will place the Paragon at a certain degree. In addition, the attack speed, pierce, damage, specialized damage, and boss damage each scale differently with the degree.
Statistics[]
The approximate power requirements for the 20 degree increments are listed, alongside the associated damage statistics and some general guidelines on which sacrificial investments to make.
All Degrees[]
- 1 Grandmaster Ninja, 1 Grand Saboteur, 1 Master Bomber needed
- 70 range
- Same footprint as a Ninja Monkey
- All attacks deal Normal damage with camo detection
- Throws 8 large shurikens rapidly with aggressive seeking and a 15% chance to apply Distraction onto non-MOAB class bloons.
- Throws 5 flash bombs that stun bloons (excluding BADs and Bosses) for 1 second, also releasing 3 blue shurikens each. Flash bombs have a 30% chance to apply Distraction.
- Occasionally throws a sticky bomb with infinite range onto a MOAB-class bloon, detonating after 3 seconds for massive damage to the target along with decent splash damage in a range of 40 units.
- Grants permanent Camo Detection to all towers.
- All Bloons on screen (excluding BADs and Bosses) are permanently slowed to half speed, while all non-Boss Bloons have their maximum HP reduced by 25% upon spawning. The former includes the children of every Bloon as well.
Degree 1 (Base)[]
- 0 Power needed
Main Shuriken
- Attacks every 0.217s
- 4 pierce, 32 damage, +6 camo damage, +15 to stunned targets, +15 to stickied targets
- 64 Boss damage, 128 Elite Boss damage
- 70 Phayze damage, 140 Elite Phayze damage
Flash Bomb
- Attacks every 1.5s
- 50 pierce, 96 damage, +20 camo damage
- 192 Boss damage, 384 Elite Boss damage
- 212 Phayze damage, 424 Elite Phayze damage
Blue Shuriken
- 20 pierce, 80 damage, +16 camo damage
- 160 Boss damage, 320 Elite Boss damage
- 176 Phayze damage, 352 Elite Phayze damage
Sticky Bomb
- Attacks every 5.5s
- 16,000 damage, +3,200 camo damage
- 48,000 Boss damage, 96,000 Elite Boss damage
- 51,200 Phayze damage, 102,400 Elite Phayze damage
Explosion
- 10 pierce, 3,500 damage, +700 camo damage
- 4,900 Boss damage, 9,800 Elite Boss damage
- 5,600 Phayze damage, 11,200 Elite Phayze damage
Degree 20[]
- At least 11,032 Power needed
- Buying 24 2-0-2 Ninja Monkeys achieves Degree 20 on all difficulties.
- If using only the cash slider, spending a total of ~1.6x the Paragon upgrade's cost should comfortably get Degree 20 on all difficulties.
Main Shuriken
- Attacks every 0.1659s
- 23.8 pierce, 39.1 damage, +7.1 camo damage
- 96.4 Boss damage, 192.9 Elite Boss damage
- 105.4 Phayze damage, 210.8 Elite Phayze damage
Flash Bomb
- Attacks every 1.1466s
- 78.5 pierce, 115.2 damage, +23.8 camo damage
- 286.8 Boss damage, 573.7 Elite Boss damage
- 316.6 Phayze damage, 633.2 Elite Phayze damage
Blue Shuriken
- 42.8 pierce, 96.2 damage, +19 camo damage
- 239.2 Boss Damage, 478.5 Elite Boss damage
- 263.1 Phayze damage, 526.1 Elite Phayze damage
Sticky Bomb
- Attacks every 4.2042s
- 19,041 damage, +3,808 camo damage
- 71,401.3 Boss damage, 142,802.5 Elite Boss damage
- 76,161.3 Phayze damage, 152,322.5 Elite Phayze damage
Explosion
- 30.9 pierce, 4,166 damage, +833 camo damage
- 7,290 Boss damage, 14,580 Elite Boss damage
- 8,331.3 Phayze damage, 16,662.5 Elite Phayze damage
Degree 40[]
- At least 31,360 Power needed
- Buying 17 0-2-4 Ninja Monkeys and spending ~0.8x the Paragon upgrade's cost on the cash slider achieves Degree 40 on all difficulties.
- If using only the cash slider, spending a total of ~2.7x the Paragon upgrade's cost should comfortably get Degree 40 on all difficulties.
Main Shuriken
- Attacks every 0.1505s
- 44.6 pierce, 47.5 damage, +8.3 camo damage
- 137.9 Boss damage, 275.9 Elite Boss damage
- 150.5 Phayze damage, 300.9 Elite Phayze damage
Flash Bomb
- Attacks every 1.0405s
- 108.5 pierce, 136.4 damage, +27.8 camo damage
- 404.8 Boss damage, 809.6 Elite Boss damage
- 446.5 Phayze damage, 893 Elite Phayze damage
Blue Shuriken
- 66.8 pierce, 114.2 damage, +22.2 camo damage
- 338.1 Boss Damage, 676.2 Elite Boss damage
- 371.5 Phayze damage, 742.9 Elite Phayze damage
Sticky Bomb
- Attacks every 3.8152s
- 22,243 damage, +4,448 camo damage
- 100,084.5 Boss damage, 200,169 Elite Boss damage
- 106,756.5 Phayze damage, 213,513 Elite Phayze damage
Explosion
- 52.9 pierce, 4,868 damage, +973 camo damage
- 10,221 Boss damage, 20,442 Elite Boss damage
- 11,680.5 Phayze damage, 23,361 Elite Phayze damage
Degree 60[]
- At least 66,387 Power needed
- Buying 17 0-2-4 Ninja Monkeys and spending ~2.63x the Paragon upgrade's cost on the cash slider achieves Degree 60 on all difficulties.
Main Shuriken
- Attacks every 0.1406s
- 65.4 pierce, 55.9 damage, +9.5 camo damage
- 186.8 Boss damage, 373.7 Elite Boss damage
- 203.5 Phayze damage, 407.1 Elite Phayze damage
Flash Bomb
- Attacks every 0.972s
- 138.5 pierce, 157.6 damage, +31.8 camo damage
- 543 Boss damage, 1,086 Elite Boss damage
- 598.64 Phayze damage, 1,197.28 Elite Phayze damage
Blue Shuriken
- 42.8 pierce, 132.2 damage, +25.4 camo damage
- 453.9 Boss Damage, 907.9 Elite Boss damage
- 498.5 Phayze damage, 996.9 Elite Phayze damage
Sticky Bomb
- Attacks every 3.5642s
- 25,445 damage, +5,088 camo damage
- 133,568.7 Boss damage, 267,137.5 Elite Boss damage
- 142,472.8 Phayze damage, 284,945.5 Elite Phayze damage
Explosion
- 74.9 pierce, 5,570 damage, +833 camo damage
- 13,643 Boss damage, 27,286 Elite Boss damage
- 15,590.8 Phayze damage, 31,181.5 Elite Phayze damage
Degree 80[]
- At least 120,115 Power needed
- Buying 17 0-2-4 Ninja Monkeys, spending ~2.82x the Paragon upgrade's cost on the cash slider, and accumulating 9,020,700 pops across all Ninja Monkeys achieves Degree 80 on all difficulties.
Main Shuriken
- Attacks every 0.1333s
- 86.2 pierce, 64.3 damage, +10.7 camo damage
- 243.1 Boss damage, 486.2 Elite Boss damage
- 264.6 Phayze damage, 529.2 Elite Phayze damage
Flash Bomb
- Attacks every 0.9211s
- 168.5 pierce, 178.8 damage, +35.8 camo damage
- 701.4 Boss damage, 1,402.7 Elite Boss damage
- 773 Phayze damage, 1,545.9 Elite Phayze damage
Blue Shuriken
- 114.8 pierce, 150.2 damage, +28.6 camo damage
- 586.8 Boss Damage, 1,173.6 Elite Boss damage
- 644.1 Phayze damage, 1,288.2 Elite Phayze damage
Sticky Bomb
- Attacks every 3.3774s
- 28,647 damage, +5,728 camo damage
- 171,854 Boss damage, 343,708 Elite Boss damage
- 183,310 Phayze damage, 366,620 Elite Phayze damage
Explosion
- 96.9 pierce, 6,272 damage, +1,253 camo damage
- 17,556 Boss damage, 35,112 Elite Boss damage
- 20,062 Phayze damage, 40,124 Elite Phayze damage
Degree 91 (Single Player Max without Geraldo)[]
- At least 159,085 Power needed
- Buying 17 0-2-4 Ninja Monkeys, spending ~2.82x the Paragon upgrade's cost on the cash slider, and accumulating 16,200,000 pops across all Ninja Monkeys achieves Degree 91 on all difficulties.
Main Shuriken
- Attacks every 0.1299s
- 97.6 pierce, 69.8 damage, +11.4 camo damage
- 261.2 Boss damage, 522.4 Elite Boss damage
- 284 Phayze damage, 568 Elite Phayze damage
Flash Bomb
- Attacks every 0.8978s
- 185 pierce, 191.4 damage, +38 camo damage
- 747.6 Boss damage, 1,495.2 Elite Boss damage
- 823.6 Phayze damage, 1,647.2 Elite Phayze damage
Blue Shuriken
- 128 pierce, 161 damage, +30.4 camo damage
- 626 Boss Damage, 1,252 Elite Boss damage
- 686.8 Phayze damage, 1,373.6 Elite Phayze damage
Sticky Bomb
- Attacks every 3.2918s
- 30,409 damage, +6,080 camo damage
- 182,418 Boss damage, 364,836 Elite Boss damage
- 194,578 Phayze damage, 389,156 Elite Phayze damage
Explosion
- 109 pierce, 6,659 damage, +1330 camo damage
- 18,638 Boss damage, 37,276 Elite Boss damage
- 21,298 Phayze damage, 42,596 Elite Phayze damage
Degree 100 (Max)[]
- 200,000 power needed
- Buying 17 0-2-4 Ninja Monkeys and spending ~2.82x the Paragon's cost on the cash slider along with either 9 tier 5 Ninja Monkeys (only possible on co-op), 20 Paragon Power Totems, or a mix of the two, and accumulating 16,200,000 pops across all Ninja Monkeys achieves Degree 100 on all difficulties.
Main Shuriken
- Attacks every 0.1274s
- 107 pierce, 74 damage, +11.9 camo damage
- 309.8 Boss damage, 619.6 Elite Boss damage
- 336.6 Phayze damage, 673.3 Elite Phayze damage
Flash Bomb
- Attacks every 0.8805s
- 198.5 pierce, 202 damage, +39.8 camo damage
- 884.3 Boss damage, 1,768.7 Elite Boss damage
- 973.9 Phayze damage, 1,947.8 Elite Phayze damage
Blue Shuriken
- 138.8 pierce, 170 damage, +31.8 camo damage
- 740.7 Boss Damage, 1,481.4 Elite Boss damage
- 812.3 Phayze damage, 1,624.7 Elite Phayze damage
Sticky Bomb
- Attacks every 3.2285s
- 32,010 damage, +6,368 camo damage
- 215,302.5 Boss damage, 430,605 Elite Boss damage
- 229,630.5 Phayze damage, 459,261 Elite Phayze damage
Explosion
- 118.9 pierce, 7,010 damage, +1,393 camo damage
- 22,041 Boss damage, 44,082 Elite Boss damage
- 25,175.3 Phayze damage, 50,350.5 Elite Phayze damage
Troubleshooting[]
Behavior and Interactions[]
Like other Paragons, the Ascended Shadow will ignore most tower interactions, such as buffs, discounts, and redeployment as detailed here. However, there are a few noteworthy points of the tower's behavior to consider:
- The Shuriken and Flash Bomb attacks obey the target priority which is set on the tower. They are restricted by line of sight,
- Sticky card can stack with Sticky bomb or Master Bomber's sticky bombs on the same blimp.
- The Sticky Bomb will always target the strongest Bloon on screen, unless Camo Priority is enabled. Then, it will target DDTs.
- Despite having infinite range, this attack is restricted by line of sight, regardless of target priority.
- The Ascended Shadow's primary Shuriken attack gains one extra Shuriken projectile from the Deadly Tranquility Monkey Knowledge.
- Perhaps unintentionally, the Flash Bomb is also affected.
- Like all Paragons, Time Stop does not slow down Ascended Shadow, which allows it to deal much more overall damage against all bloon types including BADs and Bosses.
- The Ascended Shadow attacks deal extra damage to Bloons debuffed with effects such as Super Brittle or Cripple MOAB.
- If placed on an ice platform created by an Arctic Wind monkey, the Ascended Shadow is not sold when said ice monkey is sold. Instead, it'll hover over the water. It is also immune to Pontoon selling, and Portable Lake selling if an Ice platform is used.
- As of update 33.0, this Arctic Wind ice platform interaction no longer occurs.
Costs[]
Like all Paragons, which are able to sacrifice other towers, Ascended Shadow has a complex set of costs.
Data updated as of Version 40.2.
Quick Reference Costs[]
Assumes normal undiscounted costs of each tower.
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Impoppable | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vanilla | $524,945 | $617,600 | $667,010 | $741,120 |
| Cheapest Degree 20 | $561,545 | $660,800 | $713,690 | $792,960 |
| Cheapest Degree 40 | $994,864 | $1,170,438 | $1,264,075 | $1,404,525 |
| Maximum Sacrifices | $1,857,019 | $2,184,738 | $2,359,519 | $2,621,685 |
Combos written for the above table:
- Vanilla: The cheapest Ascended Shadow at raw cost, using only 5-0-0, 0-5-0, and 0-0-5.
- Cheapest Degree 20: The best way to acquire a degree 20 Ascended Shadow. Uses 24x 2-0-2 Ninja Monkeys.
- Cheapest Degree 40: The best way to acquire a degree 40 Ascended Shadow. Uses 17x 0-2-4 Ninja Monkeys and a cash injection.
- Reaching Degree 40 with only tower sacrifices requires placing 58 0-2-4 Ninja Monkeys. This is obviously unfeasible, so if going for a Degree 40 Ascended Shadow, you only need to maximize the upgrade requirements and then spend the rest of the money with the cash slider.
- Maximum Sacrifices: Fully covers non-pop count, non-T5 sacrifices for Ascended Shadow. Uses 17x 0-2-4 Ninja Monkeys and a cash injection.
- Filling the cash requirement with only tower sacrifices requires placing 163 0-2-4 Ninja Monkeys. This is obviously unfeasible, so if going for the strongest possible Ascended Shadow, you only need to maximize the upgrade requirements and then spend the rest of the money with the cash slider.
Cost Formula[]
Lists the costs for all Tier 5 Ninja Monkeys without crosspathing, all Tier 4 Ninja Monkeys without crosspathing, and all crosspaths up to Tier 2 on all four game modes (Easy, Medium, Hard, Impoppable), along with the power contribution next to each price value. The three cheapest Tier 5 Ninja Monkeys do not contribute power to the cash requirement.
| Whole Tower Purchase | Easy | Medium | Hard | Impoppable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5-0-0 Total | $33,780 (1,589.647) | $39,750 (1,590) | $42,935 (1,590.185) | $47,700 (1,590) |
| 0-5-0 Total | $25,030 (1,177.882) | $29,450 (1,178) | $31,805 (1,177.963) | $35,340 (1,178) |
| 0-0-5 Total | $41,135 (1,935.765) | $48,400 (1,936) | $52,270 (1,935.926) | $58,080 (1,936) |
| Whole Tower Purchase | Easy | Medium | Hard | Impoppable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4-0-0 Total | $4,030 (189.647) | $4,750 (190) | $5,135 (190.185) | $5,700 (190) |
| 0-4-0 Total | $6,330 (297.882) | $7,450 (298) | $8,045 (297.963) | $8,940 (298) |
| 0-0-4 Total | $7,135 (335.765) | $8,400 (336) | $9,070 (335.926) | $10,080 (336) |
| T1+T2 Purchase | Easy | Medium | Hard | Impoppable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2-0-0 T1+T2 | $550 (25.88) | $650 (26) | $705 (26.111) | $780 (26) |
| 0-2-0 T1+T2 | $720 (33.88) | $850 (34) | $920 (34.074) | $1,020 (34) |
| 0-0-2 T1+T2 | $550 (25.88) | $650 (26) | $700 (25.929) | $780 (26) |
Where T(x,y,z) and C(x, y, z) are functions with three parameters corresponding to tier numbers, S1 and similar are the number of Tier 4 upgrades of each path, and L1 and similar are the sums of Tier 2 crosspaths from each of the Tier 4 upgrades:
T(5,0,0) + T(0,5,0) + T(0,0,5) + S1 * T(4,0,0) + S2 * T(0,4,0) + S3 * T(0,0,4) + L1 * C(2,0,0) + L2 * C(0,2,0) + L3 * C(0,0,2)
Substitute each of these functions with the respective tower costs (e.g. Grandmaster Ninja → T(5,0,0) → $39,750 if Medium prices are used). Use Wolfram Alpha or similar to plonk in specific combinations.
Cash Sacrifices[]
- Cash : Power: Ratio of cash required to gain 1 power. Maximum power gained from cash sacrifices is 60,000 power.
- Max Manual Sacrifices: Maximum amount of cash required to max out power via cash sacrifices by only using placed towers, irrespective of non-impossibility in practice.
- Max Slider Sacrifices: Maximum amount of cash required to max out power via cash sacrifices by only using the cash slider.
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Impoppable | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash : Power | Manual: $21.25 Slider: $22.3125 |
Manual: $25 Slider: $26.25 |
Manual: $27 Slider: $28.35 |
Manual: $30 Slider: $31.5 |
| Maximum Manual Sacrifices | $1,275,000 | $1,500,000 | $1,620,000 | $1,800,000 |
| Maximum Slider Sacrifices | $1,338,750 | $1,575,000 | $1,701,000 | $1,890,000 |
Strategy[]
 |
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See also: Paragons: Strategy
Summary[]
The Ascended Shadow combines the attacks of the Grandmaster Ninja, Grand Saboteur, and Master Bomber to rapidly fire a piercing array of seeking Shurikens, Flash Bombs, and Sticky Bombs. Alongside its Bloon speed and MOAB HP reduction effect, the Ascended Shadow outshines other towers in MOAB-Stalling, single-target damage, grouped MOAB damage, Boss Bloon damage, and long-range attacks. The main weakness of the Ascended Shadow is its exorbitant price, due to being a very expensive upgrade (by comparison of upgrade prices alone, it costs the same as True Sun God, and the tedious setup process to boost its Degree. Additionally, the effectiveness of the Ascended Shadow becomes less relevant when high-DPS Magic powerhouses, such as the Vengeful True Sun God, and other powerful Paragons like the Navarch and Doomship exist. As a result, players should plan early and invest in an intense farming setup and sacrifices to maximize the power of the Paragon. Doing so will make the Ascended Shadow an invaluable asset to any Boss Bloon and most Late Game defenses.
During Boss Fights, obtain as high a degree Ascended Shadow as possible while keeping as much cash as possible for other towers. Ascended Shadow is still viable in boss events, but other options (namely the Goliath Doomship) are better in terms of extremely expensive Paragon damage output against Elite Bosses.
For general late game usage, the Ascended Shadow is recommended as its sticky bombs and main attacks provide very high DPS and MOAB stalling power. There is the additional benefit of having a permanent Grand Sabotage ability. However, all of these effects fall off significantly when going very deep into freeplay, with the exception of the permanent Grand Saboteur effect that removes 25% health from incoming MOAB-class Bloons, making it super effective at severely damaging the immense health of freeplay BADs.
In either case, all of its direct attacks are restricted by Line of Sight, so place the Ascended Shadow in areas with fewer obstacles and more track area to maximize time spent attacking bloons. If possible, try to align the placement so Ascended Shadow has direct line of sight to the track entrance, allowing for more usage of the sticky bomb.
Tips[]
- To get a cheap degree 20 Ascended Shadow, one can buy 25 2-0-2 Ninjas with Sharp Shurikens and Caltrops to fulfill the 100 upgrade tiers requirement and $25,800 cash for a cheap degree 20, which will be enough to get a degree 21 Ascended Shadow (degree 20 on Easy).
- 0-2-4 Ninja (not 2-4-0 Ninja) is the most expensive tier 4 Ninja, and is optimal for dumping cash for sacrifices.
- 2-4-0 Ninja costs $8100 on Medium, and so does 0-4-2 Ninja, but $9050 on Medium for 2-0-4 and $9250 on Medium for 0-2-4 Ninja.
- Note that while 0-2-4 is the most expensive ninja, the 0-4-2/2-4-0 ninjas have the Shinobi Tactics buff and the Bloon Sabotage ability, which can make it significantly easier for ninjas to gather pops in freeplay by buffing the Grandmaster Ninja, as attacks like Sticky Bomb will quickly become inconsequential because of health ramping.
- The main sources of pops for the Ascended Shadow will typically be from the Grand Saboteur's ability and Grandmaster Ninja.
- In Boss events, Ascended Shadow is not the top option anymore compared to Goliath Doomship, but is a good single-target choice at a moderate price. Its main damage source comes from its Sticky Bomb attack, which is virtually unaffected by debuffs such as Super Brittle. Even so, its sticky bomb is very powerful, and if the player has spare cash, Ascended Shadow is still worth purchasing if it is at least degree 20.
- This Paragon is far more suitable against Reality Warper Phayze as it can deal increased damage against bloons with the camo property.
- Ascended Shadow is a useful option in extreme late-game runs due to having a permanent Bloon Sabotage effect. These sabotage effects will penetrate blimp layers. Grand Saboteur is redundant in combination of Ascended Shadow already exists, as the 25% instant health reduction from incoming blimps is already handled by Ascended Shadow and can’t stack.
- Setting the Ascended Shadow to Camo Priority is not recommended as it will prevent the sticky bomb from targeting the strongest bloons.
- To get the $1,500,000 on Medium valuation of manual sacrifices for Ascended Shadow, one must spend roughly 162.16 worth of 0-2-4 Sticky Bombs. Very few maps can support that many Ninjas, and even then it requires occupying excessive amounts of the entire available land. For efficient cost sacrifices, place as many as humanly possible and spend the rest on the cash slider.
Version History[]
Balance Changes[]
The Ascended Shadow started off as the strongest Paragon in the game when it was introduced. While it had not changed much since its initial release, other powerful paragons, such as the Navarch of the Seas, Goliath Doomship, and buffs to the initially underperforming Glaive Dominus, have pushed the Ascended Shadow out of the spotlight in Boss events due to its high price and lack of outstanding qualities. It still deals solid single target damage to bosses, but it lacks easy ways to rack up progress towards a high degree, unlike many other paragons. Because of this, it received a price reduction to increase its viability. In the following update, the paragon received multiple significant buffs to greatly improve the late-game performance of it, gaining the Grand Saboteur’s instant health reduction to MOAB-class Bloons in addition to reworking its decamo into gaining extra Camo damage plus a global Camo detection buff. In 42.0, as part of the balance changes to the bottom path, Ascended Shadow now deals extra damage to stunned/stickied targets
- 28.0
- The Ninja Monkey Paragon was added
- 29.0
- [bug fix] Ninja Paragon sticky bomb attack should now correctly create an aoe when it destroys the target
- 36.0
| “ | [...] Ninja currently appears to be the least competitive paragon, & as it is also very similar in cost to the Navarch we feel that lowering Ninja into its own price range will fill a bit of a cost-gap and increase the effective value it has for the cost. | ” |
| ~ Ninja Kiwi |
- Ninja Paragon cost reduced from $600k → $500k
- 37.0
| “ | We’re changing the Ninja Monkey Paragon’s focus as a fighter against camo, as we feel like a greater strength and tactical value against camo will be the full reveal of all camos rather than all camo removal. | ” |
| ~ Ninja Kiwi |
- Ascended Shadow reworked to grant global Camo detection to all towers on screen instead of removing Camo with all its own attacks
- Ascended Shadow now grants global camo detection for all towers
- Ascended Shadow no longer strips camo from Bloons with every attack
- Note: Granting global Camo detection over removing Camo properties is overall a buff, as the addition of external Camo detection makes the decamo become almost redundant, and decamoing actually loses Ascended Shadow’s anti-Camo focus. Ascended Shadow will now still target Camo Bloons whenever Camo Prioritization is turned on.
- Ascended Shadow main attack gains bonus to camo +6
- Ascended Shadow Flash Bomb Explosion gains bonus to camo +20
- Ascended Shadow Flash Bomb Shurikens gains bonus to camo +16
- Ascended Shadow Sticky Bomb Projectile gains bonus to camo +3200
- Ascended Shadow Sticky Bomb Explosion gains bonus to camo +700
- Ascended Shadow now deals 25% damage to all non-Boss MOABs that spawn
- 39.0
| “ | No changes here for now - given that it did feel behind the other paragons previously, however this is the only paragon that actually got stronger from the bug fix rather than weaker | ” |
| ~ Ninja Kiwi |
- Ascended Shadow's overall Boss damage increased
- Ascended Shadow's Camo damage bonuses now properly scales with Paragon degrees
- Ascended Shadow cash sacrifice per power increased/decreased in all game difficulties
- Easy: $25 → $21.25
- Medium: $25
- Hard: $25 → $27
- Impoppable: $25 → $30
- Ascended Shadow is no longer affected by the bonus sellback benefit from Favored Trades or Navarch of the Seas.
- Ascended Shadow can now accept a cash slider to fill additional cost sacrifices for a 5% price markup
- Ascended Shadow bonus Boss damage multiplier per 20 degrees increased (20% → 25%)
- 42.0
- Paragon main Shuriken attack deals more to stunned Bloons +15
- Paragon main Shuriken attack deals more to stickied targets +15
Bug Fixes and General Changes[]
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This section is incomplete. You can help by expanding it. |
Bugs[]
- Current
None, so far
- Patched
None, so far
[]
The Ninja Monkey Paragon (Ascended Shadow), as teased on Social Media.
On 6th October 2021, Ninja Kiwi teased the Ninja Monkey Paragon on their Twitter. It was later released in the 28.0 update, and later revealed to be the Ascended Shadow. It has been teased with the following description in double quotation marks: "The Bloons will never see me coming..."; however, upon release of Version 28.0, the Ascended Shadow's upgrade description turned out to be completely different.
Quotes[]
| “ |
|
” |
| ~ Version 28.0 patch notes |
| “ | The Bloons will never see me coming... | ” |
| ~ October 5th Teaser Description |
Sounds[]
When attaching a Sticky Card on a MOAB-class bloon:
- [Glue splatting]
- [Glue splatting]
- [Glue splatting]
- [Glue splatting]
- [Glue splatting]
Gallery[]
Ascended Shadows[]
Projectiles[]
Official Artwork[]
Animations[]
Trivia[]
- Ascended Shadow is the first Magic Monkey paragon to be announced and released.
- Ascended Shadow is the first upgrade in the Bloons TD series to surpass the cost of True Sun God (if excluding cumulative sacrifices of VTSG). At the time, it was the most expensive single upgrade in the entire franchise.
- However, it has since been surpassed by the Master Builder since Version 32.0, and subsequently the Goliath Doomship in v33.0. In addition, after Version 36.0, its price has been reduced to the same as the TSG.
- The teaser featured the quote "The Bloons will never see me coming...", which is notable for being in first person perspective.
- The files for Ascended Shadow's Shurikens does not include the ones for Level 2 and 3 (i.e. Degrees 21-40 and 41-60, respectively), as Ascended Shadow from Degree 1 to 60 use the same sprites.
- Ascended Shadow is the second Paragon to start with A, and the first Paragon to have a letter that starts with a letter that matches an existing Paragon's starting letter, that for Apex Plasma Master.
- As of 37.0, Ascended Shadow is the second paragon to do percentage-based damage to all bloons, including BADs (the first being Navarch of the Seas), by inflicting 25% damage to them at spawn.
- If Grand Saboteur's ability is used while the Ascended Shadow is on screen, the damage to the bloons at spawn will go to the Grand Saboteur instead of the Paragon until the ability times out.
- In Update 42, Ascended Shadow became the first and currently only paragon that can deal extra damage to BADs. In this case, the extra damage to stickied targets lets it deal extra BAD damage.
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