Rocket Storm (BTDB2)

BTDB2

“	Rocket Storm Ability: Launches a powerful storm of rockets in a wide cone	”
	^{~ BTDB2 description}

New 042 rstorm btdb2 — Rocket Storm with 0-4-2 crosspath shooting a storm with the Foam Darts projectile skin

Rocket Storm is the 4th upgrade of Path 2 for the Dartling Gunner in Bloons TD Battles 2. It is very similar to its BTD6 counterpart, the only real differences being a lack of initial cooldown, and ability rockets can ignore Line of Sight but deal less damage.

Ability rockets deal 4 damage per shot, rather than 5 in BTD6. In addition, all rockets do not get pierce bonuses, leaving them with 6 pierce per ability rocket and 7 pierce per main rocket, and otherwise functioning equivalently to its previous upgrade Hydra Rocket Pods. Duration remains at 8 seconds. Pierce of both ability rockets and main rockets increase by +3 with 0-4-2 crosspath. Rocket spread is 75 degrees, reduced to 52.5 degrees with 1-4-0 crosspath, and all rockets move in a serpentine motion as they travel.

It costs $5,100, and is unlocked with the purchase of Dartling Gunner.

Costs[]

Updated as of Version 1.5.0

Upgrade or Crosspath	Cost	Sellback (70%)
Upgrade Cost (x-4-x)	$5,100	$3,570
Total Cost (0-4-0)	$12,200	$8,540
Total Cost (1-4-0)	$12,450	$8,715
Total Cost (2-4-0)	$13,200	$9,240
Total Cost (0-4-1)	$12,350	$8,645
Total Cost (0-4-2)	$13,050	$9,135

Strategy[]

Summary[]

The Rocket Storm ability is a very strong option for covering Hydra Rocket Pods' weaknesses, specifically MOAB-class bloons and very large clumps of bloons, which a single Hydra Rocket Pods would typically fail against. The main strength of Rocket Storm is its highly damaging rockets, sustained duration, and relatively low cost for a mobile and aimable storm of rockets. The ability is also effective at taking down a particularly large rush that it would not be otherwise able to take down, although if you start relying on it too much, your opponent could take advantage of that.

When it comes to crosspaths, 2-4-0 offers the best results, providing much greater accuracy all rockets and thus can hit targets more reliably even from a wide distance. Laser Shock isn't truly necessary for optimizing the ability, though often useful in conjunction with an existing Hydra Rocket Pods, since the base Rocket Storm missile attack comes with extra pierce too. The 0-4-2 has increased turn speed (Faster Swivel) and higher pierce (Powerful Darts), which generally won't be very helpful unless the Rocket Storm targets very close to nearby track and is used to counter huge swarms of bloons.

Tips[]

For the most part, you shouldn't try to go for Rocket Storm unless pressured, rather get it if you have the money, as it's very expensive, albeit very powerful when in a pinch.
The best crosspath is generally 1-4-0, or 2-4-0 if this was part of a 2-3-0 Hydra Rocket Pods for the slight extra single-target damage. While the extra pierce from 0-4-2 is desirable, the ability rockets are very erratic without the Focused Firing crosspath, although still usable against dense rushes thanks to the +3 pierce per ability rocket.
Rocket Storm is most often used against large grouped bloon rushes or against MOABs.

Version History[]

Rocket Storm received heavy nerfs after getting popularized in Dartling metas, particularly in combination with the very strong Dartling early-and-mid-game with the middle path Dartling in particular.

Bear in mind that Rocket Storm was released with the BTD6 Version 28.0 counterpart, which retained Line of Sight ignorance at the time of the release of Battles 2.

Initial release (compared to BTD6 during Version 28.0)

Rocket Storm has no initial cooldown

1.0.6

Rocket Storm ability does less damage (6 → 5), and lasts for less time (10s → 8s)
[undocumented] Laser Shock no longer applies to ability rocket explosions, nor Hydra explosions

1.3.0

Rocket Storm ability does less damage (5 → 4)

1.5.0

No longer requires 14,000 XP to unlock. Players who have unlocked this upgrade before the update will not receive a full refund.

1.7.0

Rocket Storm no longer gains +2 pierce for all rockets and their explosions

2.0.4

Affected by missile external pierce removal nerfs

3.2

0-4-2 Rocket Storm ability pierce benefit increased (+2 -> +3)

“	Dartling has always had a decent presence in the meta, however it’s also always had some subpar upgrades, such as Laser Cannon and Ray of Doom. [...] Lastly, xx2 provides regular x3x rockets with +3 pierce so it makes sense for this to also be the case for the ability rockets, especially since this crosspath option is not as appealing as the top path.	”
	^{~ Ninja Kiwi}

3.2.4

0-4-x Rocket Storm ability rocket spread decreased from 120 degrees to 75 degrees
1-4-0 Rocket Storm ability rocket spread increased from 48 degrees to 52.5 degrees, spread reduction reduced from 60% to 30%

“	Dartling Gunner’s Rocket Storm ability previously got a massive efficiency boost from 1xx, which meant that it was undoubtedly the best crosspath for it and it made Rocket Storm a very strong ability. We have noticeably reduced the default ability spread and very slightly increased the 1xx ability spread so that this one crosspath is not so necessary.	”
	^{~ Ninja Kiwi}

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

Throughout history, Rocket Storm in BTDB2 has always cheaper than its current BTD6 counterpart. This also applies to all crosspaths of the Rocket Storm.
- The 0-4-0 Rocket Storm with the highest price in BTDB2 compared to the current BTD6 price is the Version 1.2.0 price following the Hydra Rocket Pods nerf, which now sits at only a $125 difference.