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BTD6

Creates a solid line of annihilation. You can erase most Bloons at your leisure.
~ In-game description

Ray of Doom (sometimes abbreviated as RoD) is the Tier 5 upgrade of top path for the Dartling Gunner in Bloons TD 6. Like the Ray of Doom in BTD5, the Ray of Doom shoots a solid beam of constant destruction. It is a much more powerful version of Plasma Accelerator, creating a nearly endless giant laserbeam (except Line of Sight obstacles) that deals extremely high damage, focusing damage on the bloons closest to it and spreading the rest of its damage throughout, allowing it to evaporate strong and weak bloons with relative ease. Ray of Doom now gains the normal damage type, as well as extra damage to the first target, allowing it to damage any bloon type including Purple Bloons.

The solid beam of destruction deals 25 damage per 0.20s, plus effectively an additional +100 against the first bloon zapped, and the Laser Shock status effect deals 20 damage per 1.0s for 5.0 seconds. Note that this is despite the 31.0 patch notes claiming it deals +55 damage, the patch notes are erroneous and the attack functions differently than listed in the notes. The RoD's intense laser can also pierce up to 1000 bloons, which for most cases is never pierce capped. Its base beam width is 6, improved to 9 with the 5-0-2 crosspath.

This upgrade costs $68,000 on Easy, $80,000 on Medium, $86,400 on Hard, and $96,000 on Impoppable.

Description[]

Appearance[]

Ray of Doom is an extraordinarily large-sized death ray that produces an endless red laserbeam. It is supported by a grey-colored stand that supports the massive death ray. The base of the stand has four trapezoid-shaped feet, and its pad rotates both the death ray and a black-colored seat built for the operator. The operator sits on the designated seating, and controls the death ray with levers.

Ray of Doom's death ray has a complex supervillianous design, with three distinct prongs channeling electricity between each of them. The central prong is a large red ridged cone, lined with yellow rings, whilst the outer prongs sport grey coils surrounded by yellow shrouds bearing fins and rows of red lights; the outer prongs link into the seat with red tubes.

The operator wears a dark red bodysuit with a complex design, with yellow bands on its wrists and ankles, a yellow belt with a red emblem around its waist, a red-tinted visor with yellow rim, a yellow wing emblem with a red dot, and a yellow stripe along the top of its head.

In the upgrade portrait, the operator stands on the middle of the death ray and curls its fingers outwards in a villainous gesture. It looks upwards at the player with its arms raised high, hands open, fingers tensed, all while the death ray powers up.

Mechanics[]

Ray of Doom converts the thin beam ending in a high damage point of Plasma Accelerator into a larger (6 base beam width, 9 with Powerful Darts) beam that deals significantly increased damage with 1000 pierce.

The beam itself deals 25 damage and inflicts a 20 damage per second Laser Shock for 5 seconds, and only Ray of Doom gains +20 bonus damage per consecutive hit from this Shock effect, for a total of 45 damage every 0.2 seconds. (0.133 seconds with Faster Barrel Spin)

Additionally, the beam gains an additional invisible attack that stacks on top of the main attack with 80 damage dealt, but has only 1 pierce and can also apply laser shock. This attack is created simultaneously with the main beam and can benefit from attack speed/cooldown bonuses, but will not be affected by pierce or damage buffs, although DebuffsCripple (unspecified cripple variant) will still boost the damage of this extra attack. Just like the main hit, the invisible first hit beam gains +20 bonus damage per consecutive hit from the Laser Shock effect. This visually appears to deal +100 more damage to the first target it hits for a total of 125 damage, because of how both the first bloon hit bonus and the main beam are actually separate attacks that can apply laser shock individually. In total, this is 145 damage dealt for consecutive attacks, accounting for the Laser Shock damage bonus on both attacks.

It inherits the unique interaction with Powerful Darts from Plasma Accelerator, that being +25 pierce and +50% beam width.

The Cross the Streams MK adds a mechanic where if the beam from a Ray of Doom intersect another beam from a Ray of Doom or Plasma Accelerator, the point where they intersect generates a pool of plasma every second. These pools deal 1 damage to up to 5 Bloons and they also apply an effect similar to Laser Shock where for 2 seconds, a bloon will take 1 damage every second. These pools can damage purple and camo bloons, even if the Ray of Doom cannot.

Targeting Priorities[]

Ray of Doom customly aims based on direction and angle of where the Dartling points towards. It continually shoots a laserbeam across the entire screen controlled in a aim-based mobile style guided by touch-based mobility.

  • Normal: Rotates towards the direction of where the player last tapped. On desktop versions, always rotates towards direction of the cursor inside the game.
  • Locked: Locks the Dartling in place. By default, locks at center of map, but can be adjusted in the same way as a Mortar Monkey. On desktop versions, using a hotkey to switch to Locked will default to wherever the mouse currently is pointing.

Since all Dartlings already attack based on custom aim, Dartlings don't receive Camo Prioritization even with Advanced Targeting.

Costs[]

Updated as of Version 41.0. Listed prices exclude external buffs, any sacrifices, and Monkey Knowledge.
[Module | Data] Purchase Sell
Costs Easy Medium Hard Impoppable Easy Medium Hard Impoppable
Upgrade (5-X-X) $68,000 $80,000 $86,400 $96,000 -
Total (5-0-0) $82,275 $96,800 $104,545 $116,160 $57,593 $67,760 $73,182 $81,312
Crosspath (5-1-0) $82,485 $97,050 $104,815 $116,460 $57,740 $67,935 $73,371 $81,522
Crosspath (5-2-0) $83,290 $98,000 $105,840 $117,600 $58,303 $68,600 $74,088 $82,320
Crosspath (5-0-1) $82,400 $96,950 $104,705 $116,340 $57,680 $67,865 $73,294 $81,438
Crosspath (5-0-2) $83,420 $98,150 $106,000 $117,780 $58,394 $68,705 $74,200 $82,446

This upgrade's prices (or included crosspath's prices) are affected by the following MK: MilitaryConscriptionIcon Military Conscription, AdvancedLogisticsIcon Advanced Logistics, BetterSellDealsIcon Better Sell Deals

Strategy[]

Summary[]

Ray of Doom is the best solo option at dealing huge damage in an efficient manner. As such, if there is a great excess of money available, Ray of Doom should be the main option to go for main DPS while using as little device energy as possible. Because it is weak against DDTs, support against them should be added too. Most of the time, the player does not have to worry about overwhelming superceramics, due to the Ray of Doom's high amount of pierce and the fact that it can destroy superceramics in less than a second.

While it is extremely expensive on CHIMPS, it can be afforded on most maps with intense maximization of Plasma Accelerator alongside general defense. Ray of Doom can be reasonably afforded between Rounds 87 and 90 with a moderate amount of income budgeting and micromanagement. Once afforded, it is a dominator against weaker blimps and Super Ceramics, accounting positioning, though it will need support against DDTs (e.g. Icicle Impale, Bloon Sabotage, Spike Storms) to handle rounds where they appear. Despites its power, if the player is already able to save up that much cash, it is usually impractical to go for the Ray of Doom, as other tier 5 towers such as Perma Charge and Sky Shredder can already do a very good job at dealing with all sorts of bloons, and only cost a fraction of what the Ray of Doom costs.

Tips[]

  • The 5-2-0 crosspath is highly preferred. There is no real benefit in adding faster swivel speed because combining extreme damage from the power laserbeam with +50% attack speed is much more significant than faster swivel speed, and the pierce and width buff from Powerful Darts is insignificant due to the Ray of Doom's already massive pierce and generous width.
  • Like all towers, providing buffs is a significant boost to the Ray of Doom. Jungle Drums, Stronger Stimulant, and Overclock optimizes the Ray of Doom's performance for a relatively low price.
  • Ray of Doom cannot pass through Line of Sight obstacles, making it a bad option on maps with lots of obstacles, unless it is placed on high ground.
  • Target Ray of Doom along a straight line, specifically along the straight paths on maps such as In The Loop or Resort. This will optimize its extremely high pierce and damage potential.
  • Ray of Doom and M.A.D are a good pair for many late-game rounds, as M.A.D can pop most blimps with ease, and Ray of Doom can pop a large quantity of ceramics spawned from these blimps.
  • On Boss Bloon Events, Ray of Doom is a more expensive alternative to M.A.D for destroying Bosses. It is particularly stronger than M.A.D when it comes to destroying Vortex, as Ray of Doom utilizes Laserbeam Laserbeam hitscan attacks, which ignore all of Vortex's shields. Also, Ray of Doom is more consistent at bloon cleanup, which can be helpful against Bloonarius's minions and Phayze's portalled bloons.

Bugs[]

Current
  • [31.0] When Ray of Doom has the Powerful Darts crosspath, the beam does not appear to have grown in size. Applies to all Dartling Gunners with Powerful Darts.
  • [31.0] When Ray of Doom had received a buff that causes the first bloon hit by the ray to take extra damage, there is a bug where the first target hit is not visually shocked. The laser shock effect still applied to the first target. Still in the game as of v35.2.
Patched

Version History[]

Balance Changes[]

While it was achievable to afford a Ray of Doom on CHIMPS, even on initial release, its power-versus-price efficiency was considered too low, so a considerable price reduction and attack speed buff were added to balance this. Ray of Doom previously had a major single-target weakness, which is resolved in Version 31.0 by letting it deal more damage to the first bloons zapped. This resulted in Ray of Doom excelling against Vortex, as it is a hitscan attack that can pierce through its wind shield on top of its already high dps.

Note that the patch notes for the first hit effect claims it is +55, but it is in actuality +80.

22.0 (Dartling Gunner update)
  • Initial release.
  • NERF Ray of Doom costs more ($55,000 → $110,000).
  • NERF Only one Ray of Doom can be placed per player.
  • BUFF Ray of Doom now deals significantly more damage.
23.0
As our most recently added tower we are very happy with all the excitement surrounding this beloved monkey tower and the general middleground play position. We're happy enough with its time in the wild to make some first impression changes here which we hope you'll continue to enjoy.
~ Ninja Kiwi, referring to multiple Dartling upgrades
  • BUFF Ray of Doom price decreased ($110,000 → $95,000).
24.0
[...] Plasma Accelerator attack delay has been buffed so that now the beam 'tic rate' matches the attack speed at tier 3, overall giving it a 20% buff to all DPS which carries on up to the Tier 5. [...]
~ Ninja Kiwi, referring to buffing both Plasma Accelerator and Ray of Doom
  • BUFF Ray of Doom attack rate increased (0.25s → 0.20s).
28.0
[...] Ray of Doom's damage bonuses have been shuffled around in order to not be so weak against Super Ceramics as by the time anyone reasonably affords this SCs are the only ones you'll be seeing.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF Ray of Doom now deals 25 damage per 0.2 seconds to both regular bloons and MOAB-Class Bloons, instead of only doing 5 damage to regular bloons and 25 to blimps.
  • BUFF Laser Shock damage per second increased from 15 to 20.
30.0
Dartling’s Ray of Doom is far too expensive for general use, so before looking at any further power related buffs we’re lowering the price. [...]
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF Ray of Doom price decreased ($95,000 → $80,000)
31.0
Ray of Doom suffers from the downsides of being designed as a high piercing tower, for the price this makes it feel far too weak against the round 100 BAD if you invest in it too early without some other forms of single target, to bring back a little of the interesting sort of targeting that the T4 has and help with this single target problem it will now deal a massive damage bonus to the first target hit along the beam’s path.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF Ray of Doom now deals bonus damage to the first target hit, dealing +80 damage to them
  • [Note] Official patch notes claim it deals +55 damage, but it is a second attack that actually deals +80 damage on top of the current attack. This is further compounded by this attack also applying laser shock, visually appearing like +100 damage in most scenarios.
  • BUFF 5-0-2 Ray of Doom beam width increased from 6 → 9
    • [bug] Ray of Doom does not visually apply Laser Shock to the first target hit, but laser shock's effects still apply.
    • [bug] Visually the beam doesnt change size.

Gallery[]

Ray of Doom versus MOAB-class[]

Official artwork[]

Teaser[]

Trivia[]

  • The Ray of Doom's redesigned model was revealed in the Dartling Gunner reveal trailer.
  • Ray of Doom is the first Tier 5 upgrade of an introduced returning tower in BTD6 where the BTD5 counterpart was a Tier 4 upgrade. Other Tier 5 upgrades in BTD6 that were formerly Tier 4 upgrades include Glaive Lord, Cripple MOAB, and Absolute Zero, but the Boomerang Monkey, Sniper Monkey, and Ice Monkey were all released on the initial release of BTD6.
  • The Ray of Doom's outfit and design could be close to Iron Man, However, it is much closer to Red Ranger/Akai Sentai from Power Rangers/Super Sentai.
  • The design of the Ray of Doom is likely based on stereotypical supervillain death rays.
  • Before Version 23.0's price buffs, the BTD6 Ray of Doom upgrade alone costs twice as much as the upgrade alone in BTD5.
  • At 75,000 XP, the Ray of Doom used to have the fourth highest XP requirement of any non-Paragon upgrade, followed by the Super Monkey's Tier 5 upgrades The Anti-Bloon, Legend of the Night, and True Sun God in that order. The Beast Handler's tier 5s have requirements of 90,000, 100,000, and 110,000, demoting the Ray of Doom to the 6th highest (Megalodon shares the size of the XP requirement with Legend of the Night).
  • According to Ninja Kiwi's December 3rd 2021 blog, Ray of Doom Dartling sits on a recliner seat. The operator describes it as "relaxing on a cloud", but Dr. Monkey says it is his "patented La-Z-Monkey technology" according to the thoughts of Ninja Kiwi.


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