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BTD6

Attacks 3x as fast!
~ In-game description

Semi-Automatic is the 3rd upgrade of Path 3 for the Sniper Monkey in Bloons TD 6. This upgrade makes the Sniper fire three times as fast. Compared to BTD5's Semi-Automatic Rifle upgrade, a Sniper Monkey with Semi-Automatic will shoot substantially faster; it shoots 3x faster than Even Faster Firing, equating to ~6.12x faster than an unupgraded Sniper. It attacks almost 4 times per second, specifically 3.85 times per second or every 0.2597s. It still cannot naturally pop Frozen or Lead Bloons without Full Metal Jacket.

This upgrade costs $2,465 on Easy, $2,900 on Medium, $3,130 on Hard, and $3,480 on Impoppable.

Description[]

Overview[]

003 snipers

Two 0-0-3 Semi-Automatic Snipers, one of which is posing

When upgraded to Semi-Automatic, the Sniper wears a more filled beret, colored orange by default, and wears grey earmuffs and two dark-gray bandoliers across the monkey's torso. The sniper's rifle muzzle is thickened, and the orange bands on the rifle still remain. On the official portrait, the monkey is peeking through a pair of binoculars.

Crosspathing with Path 1 upgrades, changes the beret to receive two colored stripes on the beret, the beret's primary color being the crosspath and the stripe color remains orange. Adding Night Vision Goggles will give the monkey night vision goggles. Adding Shrapnel Shot will add an explosion symbol to the beret.

The Sniper's semi-automatic rifle attacks three times as fast, attack cooldown reduced from 0.779s to 0.2597s.

Targeting Priorities[]

Semi-Automatic targets bloons using the standard targeting priorities. It shoots a snipe attack.

  • 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.

Can receive Camo Prioritization with Night Vision Goggles, allowing it to prioritize Camo Bloons over other types.

Full Popology[]

Statistics[]

Updated as of Version 40.2
Base stats
  • Bullet:
    • Snipe projectile, sharp type, infinite range, 0.2597s attack cooldown, 2 damage, 1 impact pierce.
Crosspathing interactions
  • 1-0-3: Bullet damage type changed from sharp to normal. Bullet damage increased from 2 to 4.
  • 2-0-3: Bullet damage increased from 4 to 7.
  • 0-1-3: Bullet damage deals +2 Camo damage.
  • 0-2-3: Bullet gains Shrapnel upon damaging bloons.
Monkey Knowledge interactions
  • EliteMilitaryTrainingIcon Elite Military Training: All Military Monkeys get a one-off +1000 XP and earn XP in-game 5% faster permanently.
  • CeramicShockIcon Ceramic Shock: Ceramic Bloons shot by all Snipers are slowed down for 2 seconds.
  • FlankingManeuversIcon Flanking Maneuvers: Attacks 10% faster when set targeting priority to "Last".
  • MilitaryConscriptionIcon Military Conscription: First military tower costs only ⅔ of the original cost.
    • Sniper Monkey base cost from $300, $350, $380, and $420 → $200, $235, $255, and $280 on Easy, Medium, Hard, and Impoppable, respectively.
  • AdvancedLogisticsIcon Advanced Logistics: All Military Monkeys base costs reduced by 5%.
    • Sniper Monkey base cost from $300, $350, $380, and $420 → $285, $330, $360, and $400 on Easy, Medium, Hard, and Impoppable, respectively.
      • If Military Conscription is also enabled, the final cost will be $185, $215, $235, and $260.
  • 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%.

Attack Interactions[]

See also: Attack Interactions/Bloons TD 6/Military
Updated as of Version 40.2
Base attack(s)
  • Bullet:
    • Sharp Type (pops Black, White, Purple) Sharp
    • Single Projectile Single Projectile
    • Snipe Snipe
    • Full Map Range (unspecified description of how the tower can attack beyond basic range) Full Map Range
    • Extra damage to all bloon types (2) Extra Damage (2)

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 (X-X-3) $2,465 $2,900 $3,130 $3,480 -
Total (0-0-3) $3,520 $4,150 $4,480 $4,980 $2,464 $2,905 $3,136 $3,486
Crosspath (1-0-3) $3,815 $4,500 $4,860 $5,400 $2,671 $3,150 $3,402 $3,780
Crosspath (2-0-3) $4,920 $5,800 $6,265 $6,960 $3,444 $4,060 $4,386 $4,872
Crosspath (0-1-3) $3,730 $4,400 $4,750 $5,280 $2,611 $3,080 $3,325 $3,696
Crosspath (0-2-3) $4,110 $4,850 $5,235 $5,820 $2,877 $3,395 $3,665 $4,074

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[]

Similar to the BTD5 Semi-Automatic Rifle upgrade, the main strength of the BTD6 Semi-Automatic upgrade comes from its unrelenting single-target DPS. Although highly dependent on crosspathing in order to benefit the most out of this upgrade, both crosspaths are highly effective for their own special purposes. Crosspathing with Path 1 makes it an effective single-target DPS tower for a decent price, while crosspathing with Path 2, particularly with the Shrapnel Shot upgrade, makes it highly effective as a long-ranged cleanup tower against groups of weaker bloons.

The 2-0-3 Semi-Automatic upgrade is generally a more efficient option at overall DPS than the opposing Deadly Precision upgrade with the 3-0-2 crosspath. With exception of beating Ceramics, the tripled attack speed of the 2-0-3 Semi-Automatic generally outweighs the performance of just under 3x more damage per unit time from a 3-0-2 Deadly Precision.

Likewise, the 0-2-3 Semi-Automatic upgrade is generally a more efficient option at overall DPS than the opposing Bouncing Bullet upgrade with the 0-3-2 crosspath. 0-2-3 Semi-Automatic is weaker against denser groups of bloons compared to 0-3-2 Bouncing Bullets, and is slightly less effective at synergizing with Alch buffs compared to the other, but a 0-2-3 Semi-Automatic has the advantage of adjusting positions far quicker, allowing it to not waste as much of its potential popping power from waiting between each shot. Note that although a Semi-Automatic uses up buffs from Berserker Brew and Stronger Stimulant far faster than with other Sniper upgrades, a 0-2-3 Semi-Automatic paired with either two is still overall the better option for grouped popping power on maps with multiple lanes.

The one other advantage of Semi-Automatic is that it can be further upgraded to Full Auto Rifle for even more increased overall DPS, further enhancing its overall anti-stalling power, just like for Semi-Automatic. When compared to a Full Auto Rifle, Semi-Automatic can accept full discounts from Villages, where the succeeding T4 upgrade does not.

Tips[]

  • This upgrade when combined with Large Calibre provides good DPS against single-target MOABs. It is helpful at chipping away at earlier MOABs, but it deals too little damage versus stronger blimps to make an impact.
  • Unlike in BTD5, it is not possible to purchase both the damage crosspath (Full Metal Jacket or Large Calibre) and Night Vision Goggles at the same time. It is usually better to crosspath with the Path 1 upgrades, but it is still effective cleanup with the Path 2 upgrade Shrapnel Shot, due to its high attack speed.
  • When set on Strong targeting, the Semi-Automatic upgrade is an excellent choice for anti-stalling earlier rounds without MOAB-class bloons, particularly with the 2-0-3 Semi-Automatic crosspathing, although 1-0-3 will do just as fine if supported by other towers to clean up.
    • Alternately, use the 0-2-3 Semi-Automatic, and set the Sniper on the First target priority. Unlike the opposite crosspath, 0-2-3 Semi-Automatic makes effective cleanup against weaker groups of bloons.
  • Some instances of multiple Semi-Automatics versus half as many Full Auto Rifles may be helpful, and much of that use case is in the presence of Monkey Commerce.
    • For instance, two discounted 0-1-3's single-target damage to Phayze is more cost-efficient DPS than one discounted 0-1-4 Full Auto, but much less so than an 0-1-5 Elite Defender with a triggered life loss.

Version History[]

Balance Changes[]

Besides being very slightly affected by the Version 20.0 Path 3 crosspathing rework for speed, Semi-Automatic was buffed in Version 34.0, as many other Sniper upgrades and their crosspaths have been buffed over the years to fulfill special niches, with Semi-Automatic mostly offering middleground single-target damage and general DPS with either crosspath.

20.0
  • BUFF Semi-Automatic attack speed very slightly increased (0.26s → 0.2597s)
34.0
All paths of the Sniper Monkey are really starting to show strong use in different cases, and we’re quite happy with this, although bottom path feels like it relies a little too heavily on the top-end upgrades for such an overall cheap path, we are shifting a small amount of price out from the T3 into the T5
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF Semi-Automatic price reduced $3500 → $3000
41.0
Sniper Monkey has some very powerful upgrades but also many poor stepping stones. We felt this tower needed a big price shuffle all around, pushing down the cost of many underwhelming upgrades but returning this back into stronger upgrades.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF Semi-Automatic price reduced from $3000 to $2900
    • Overall price increase is $0 due to Fast Firing (+$50) and Even Faster Firing (+$50).

Bug Fixes and General Changes[]

Gallery[]

Official Artwork[]

Trivia[]

  • Although the upgrade name suggests that the sniper rifle becomes semi-automatic, the monkey still operates the bolt to re-chamber.
  • In BTD6, the Semi-Automatic upgrade icon features two large magazines of long pointed high-calibre bullets. In contrast, in BTD5, the upgrade icon features three darts zooming past in sequence.
  • Semi-Automatic gains a pair of earmuffs, while BTD5's Semi-Automatic Rifle gains a black metal helmet.
    • The black metal helmet is now a feature that the next upgrade, Full Auto Rifle, receives. Even then, the black metal helmet is a different design.
  • This upgrade is one of few upgrades that attacks exactly 3x faster than their predecessors, the others being Overdrive and Glue Hose.
    • Artillery Battery used to attack exactly 3x faster than Heavy Shells, but this is no longer the case due to a buff to its attack speed (4x instead of 3x).
  • The pose used by Semi-Automatic upgrade in BTD6 is similar to the Night Vision Goggles upgrade in BTD5.
  • Semi-Automatic is the only Tier 3 Sniper Monkey in BTD6 to wear no pants. Deadly Precision has black leg compressionwear, while Bouncing Bullet wears camoflague trousers.
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