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BTD6

Damaged bloons spray out a cone of sharp shrapnel.
~ In-game description

Shrapnel Shot is the second upgrade of Path 2 for the Sniper Monkey in Bloons TD 6. It causes bloons damaged by the Sniper's bullet to send out 5 sharp fragments, similar to the Bomb Shooter's Frag Bombs upgrade, but in a 45° cone shape as opposed to a full 360°. Each piece of shrapnel deals 1 damage per bloon and +2 damage to Camo Bloons (more with Path 1 upgrades) onto up to two bloons (more with Supply Drop and Elite Sniper), though sprays of shrapnel can deal more damage if close enough to nearby bloons. Note that shrapnel does not deal damage to the bloon hit by the bullet, making this upgrade not so effective for doing single target damage. However, shrapnel does deal +2 Camo damage.

Upgrading with Large Calibre increases the damage of each shrapnel piece to 2 instead of 1, Deadly Precision will increase the damage of each shrapnel damage to 4, upgrading it to Maim MOAB will increase it to 6, and Cripple MOAB will increase it to 12. Purchasing any Path 1 upgrade (including Full Metal Jacket) will allow shrapnel pieces to pop Frozen and Lead. Shrapnel spawned from Maim MOAB or Cripple MOAB additionally stuns and cripples affected blimps, respectively but only 66% duration.

Supply Drop is the only upgrade that increases pierce of the shrapnel, from 2 to 5, while Elite Sniper retains the 5 pierce per shrapnel. Also, 0-2-4 Full Auto Rifle deals +1 MOAB-class damage.

This upgrade costs $380 on Easy, $450 on Medium, $485 on Hard, and $540 on Impoppable.

Description[]

Overview[]

Shrapnel shot sniper

0-2-0 Shrapnel Shot Sniper producing shrapnel and hitting multiple bloons per shot

Shrapnel Shot retains the goggles and blue beret of Night Vision Goggles, whilst adding a yellow explosion symbol to the beret, granting the monkey a dark green camo pattern jacket, and painting the end of the barrel light green with a yellow stripe.

The barrel paint and explosion symbol are retained on higher tier crosspaths.

Shrapnel Shot causes every shot from the Sniper to generate 5 chunks of shrapnel in a 45° cone centered on the angle the Sniper made the shot from; each shrapnel chunk deals 1 damage with 2 pierce, increasing with top-path crosspathing. Full Metal Jacket also grants shrapnel Normal type, allowing for any bloon to be popped.

Shrapnel can accept external buffs, including pierce buffs.

Targeting Priorities[]

Shrapnel Shot 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.

Because it is an upgrade above Night Vision Goggles, Shrapnel Shot receives Camo Prioritization, allowing it to prioritize Camo Bloons over other types when active.

Full Popology[]

Statistics[]

Updated as of Version 40.2
Base stats
  • Bullet:
    • Snipe projectile, sharp type, infinite range, 1.59s attack cooldown, 2 damage, +2 (4) Camo damage, 1 impact pierce. Upon damage, creates Shrapnel parallel to bullet direction.
  • Shrapnel:
    • Shrapnel (derives from Bullet, cannot hit parent bloon), sharp type, spray of 5, 1 damage, +2 (3) Camo damage, 2 pierce.
Crosspathing interactions
  • 1-2-0: Bullet and Shrapnel damage type changed from sharp to normal. Bullet damage increased from 2 to 4.
  • 2-2-0: Bullet damage increased from 4 to 7. Shrapnel damage increased from 1 to 2.
  • 3-2-0: Bullet damage increased from 7 to 20, and gains +15 Ceramic damage. Shrapnel damage increased from 2 to 4.
  • 4-2-0: Bullet damage increased from 20 to 30, gains +15 Ceramic damage, and stuns affected MOAB-class bloons (MOABs: 3s, BFBs: 1.5s, ZOMGs and DDTs: 0.75s). Shrapnel damage increased from 4 to 6, and inflicts stun to affected MOAB-class bloons for 66% duration (MOABs: 2s, BFBs: 1s, ZOMGs and DDTs: 0.5s).
  • 5-2-0: Bullet damage increased from 30 to 280, gains +15 Ceramic damage, and cripples affected MOAB-class bloons (MOABs: 7s, BFBs: 6s, ZOMGs: 3s, DDTs: 4s, BADs and Boss: 0.75s). Shrapnel damage increased from 6 to 12, and inflicts crippling effects to affected MOAB-class bloons for 66% duration (MOABs: 4.5s, BFBs: 4s, ZOMGs: 2s, DDTs: 2.5s, BADs and Boss: 0.5s).
  • 0-2-1: Bullet attack cooldown reduced from 1.59s to 1.11s.
  • 0-2-2: Bullet attack cooldown reduced from 1.11s to 0.779s.
  • 0-2-3: Bullet attack cooldown reduced from 0.779s to 0.2597s.
  • 0-2-4: Bullet attack cooldown reduced from 0.2597s to 0.1299s, MOAB-class damage gains +2. Shrapnel deals +1 MOAB-class damage.
  • 0-2-5: Bullet attack cooldown reduced from 0.1299s to 0.0649s, increase attack speed (not attack cooldown) by 1% for every 1% bloon progress, and 0.25x attack cooldown if bloons leak or lives are lost, and MOAB-class damage increased from +2 to +4 MOAB-class damage. Shrapnel deals +1 MOAB-class damage.
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 37.3
Base attack(s)
  • Bullet:
    • Sharp Type (pops Black, White, Purple) Sharp
    • Also affects Camo Bloons Camo Detection
    • Single Projectile Single Projectile
    • Snipe Snipe
    • Impact Impact
    • 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)
    • Extra damage to Camo Bloons (+2) Extra Damage to Camos (+2)
  • Shrapnel:
    • Sharp Type (pops Black, White, Purple) Sharp
    • Also affects Camo Bloons Camo Detection
    • Shrapnel (unspecified quantity and angle) Shrapnel
    • Angular Spray (5) Angular Spray (5)
    • Extra damage to Camo Bloons (+2) Extra Damage to Camos (+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-2-X) $380 $450 $485 $540 -
Total (0-2-0) $885 $1,050 $1,135 $1,260 $620 $735 $795 $882
Crosspath (1-2-0) $1,180 $1,400 $1,515 $1,680 $826 $980 $1,061 $1,176
Crosspath (2-2-0) $2,285 $2,700 $2,920 $3,240 $1,600 $1,890 $2,044 $2,268
Crosspath (0-2-1) $1,265 $1,500 $1,620 $1,800 $886 $1,050 $1,134 $1,260
Crosspath (0-2-2) $1,645 $1,950 $2,105 $2,340 $1,152 $1,365 $1,474 $1,638

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[]

Shrapnel Shot is an upgrade that addresses what was historically one of the most critical flaws of the Sniper Monkey, in that they lacked any form of grouped popping power and was often overwhelmed because of its single targeting capabilities, frequently causing bloons to split into large groups of their children layers that flustered the Sniper. In such a scenario, Shrapnel Shot can take out one bloon directly as well as pop several other bloons indirectly, making such bloon swarms less of a hassle.

A Shrapnel Shot Sniper Monkey orients them more as a global-ranged limited grouped bloon popper. Different crosspaths or further upgrades will improve the grouped-popping potential in very different ways for the Sniper. Although limited to either high shrapnel damage at the cost of slow attack speed or more frequent shrapnel at the cost of low single-target damage, both options provide an adequate specialization for the Sniper versus grouped bloons. The Path 1 upgrades Large Calibre and Deadly Precision purely improve damage, while the Maim MOAB and Cripple MOAB upgrades allowing the shrapnel to apply stun effects to multiple blimps. Faster attack speed from the Path 3 upgrades allows the pure shrapnel to be shot at a faster rate. And lastly, further upgrading on Path 2 Bouncing Bullet allows the bullet to hit multiple bloons, help point the shrapnel against the direction of bloons, and can produce multiple shrapnel sprays per bullet hit.

Tips[]

  • Upgrade to Bouncing Bullet to utilize Shrapnel Shots to their highest pierce potential.
  • Try using this upgrade with Upper Path 3 (Semi-Automatic, Full Auto Rifle, or Elite Defender), as their high attack speeds allow more shrapnel to spawn, thereby increasing overall DPS. Additionally, this makes those Snipers far more usable with buffs such as Berserker Brew or Stronger Stimulant.
  • Upgrading with Upper Path 1 (Deadly Precision, Maim MOAB, Cripple MOAB) is a viable option for chipping away the damage of multiple densely packed bloons, but for most occasions it is better off using Even Faster Firing over Shrapnel Shot for those upgrades if going for purely damage.
  • Adding Shrapnel Shot to Maim MOAB and Cripple MOAB allows the Sniper to stun multiple blimps per shot as long as the shrapnel damages them.
  • 0-2-2 is decent as a general attacker, while 1-2-0 is decent for taking down early Leads, including those on Rounds 37 and 38 where the Leads are mixed with Zebras. 1-2-0 is also a great choice for dealing with groups of Leads including Camo Leads.
  • The shrapnel flies in a cone away from the impact direction. While this can cause all the shrapnel to fly away from the track, if the sniper has Bouncing Bullet the shrapnel from the bounces often goes along the track, dealing more damage. Otherwise, properly position the Sniper such that the shrapnel direction points in a favorable direction, especially so that the shrapnel can hit bloons behind its target bloon.
  • This upgrade may backfire when a shrapnel accidentally hits a bloon that spawns more than one children (e.g. Rainbow Bloons); the amount of bloons will duplicate, sometimes causing the Sniper to take more than one shot to wipe the bloons out. Either give the Sniper more attack speed or add additional defenses.

Version History[]

Shrapnel Shot provides the Sniper with grouped popping potential that it previously lacked completely in BTD5. However, shrapnel was formerly almost not viable past Freeplay rules, as Super Ceramics had fewer children and had much higher HP. After the rework in Version 17.0 alongside additional special Shrapnel Shot interactions, it has become a lot stronger than when it was first released.

The upgrade had been reworked to become centered around a coned spray of 5 projectiles for every point of damage instead of 8 projectiles in all directions upon destroying. In later updates, the shrapnel attack had been given more benefits from crosspathing, which gave more variety to crosspath options outside of purely Path 3. The shrapnel attack is also further improved with further upgrades along Path 2.

11.0
  • BUFF Main bullets from the Shrapnel Shot Sniper Monkey now deal +2 damage to Camo Bloons.
17.0
  • Change Shrapnel Shot reworked to eject in a 45 degree arc instead of 360
  • NERF Shrapnel Shot now shoots 5 shrapnel pieces instead of 8.
  • BUFF Shrapnel Shot now produces shrapnel once upon every attack instead of only when entire bloon is destroyed
  • BUFF Crosspathing with Deadly Precision or higher now increases the damage of Shrapnel (2 for 3-2-0, 3 for 4-2-0, 5 for 5-2-0)
  • Description changed from "Destroyed Bloons spray out sharp shrapnel in all directions." to "Damaged bloons spray out a cone of sharp shrapnel."
19.0
  • BUFF Large Calibre now increases Shrapnel damage to 2 instead of 1.
  • BUFF Deadly Precision now increases Shrapnel damage to 4 instead of 2.
  • BUFF Maim MOAB now increases Shrapnel damage to 6 instead of 3.
  • BUFF Cripple MOAB now increases Shrapnel damage to 12 instead of 5.
20.0
  • BUFF Affected by base Sniper attack speed buff
21.0
  • BUFF 1-2-0 Shrapnel Shot and further Path 1 upgrades now allow shrapnel to pop any bloon type
22.0
  • BUFF 4-2-0 Shrapnel Shot now stuns blimps
  • BUFF 5-2-0 Shrapnel Shot now stuns and debuffs blimps
  • BUFF Bouncing Bullet shrapnel pierce now increased (2 → 3). Also affects subsequent upgrades.
23.0
  • BUFF Supply Drop shrapnel pierce now increased (3 → 6). Also affects Elite Sniper.
???
  • BUFF [undocumented, possibly 28.0] Shrapnel Shot's shrapnel now also benefits from +2 Camo damage
28.0
[...] As middle path sniper has been feeling to be in a good spot with alchemist buffs, but other uses of sniper shrapnel weak due to lack of alchemist buff, we have decided to swap alchemist buffability over from the number of bounces to the power of the shrapnel itself.
~ Ninja Kiwi, referring to Bouncing Bullets, but also Shrapnel Shot in general
  • BUFF Affected by Night Vision Goggles gaining Camo Prioritization
  • BUFF Shrapnel Shot, shrapnel on all crosspaths is now able to receive any external buffs
32.0
Sniper middle path is too strong for how easy to use it is, while having infinite range & cash production as well. We have removed the free +1 pierce increase shrapnel gains at T3 in addition to the added bounce. Maim MOABs grouped stun potential when crosspathed with Shrapnel feels it is overperforming too much so the shrapnel will now have a reduced stun amount compared to the initial target hit
~ Ninja Kiwi, referring to all nerfed shrapnel variants
  • NERF Affected by Bouncing Bullet shrapnel pierce nerf
  • NERF Affected by Maim MOAB shrapnel stun duration nerf
40.0
Full auto sniper's 024 crosspath sees a lot of fun/meme use, but not so much more than that. We’re hoping that applying the MOAB bonus that it gains to the shrapnel as well will help improve non-meme use here. (And looking over my notes, it seems this was meant to be included a while ago…But better late than never!)
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF 0-2-4 Shrapnel Shot now deals +1 damage to MOAB-class

Gallery[]

Official artwork[]

Projectiles[]

Videos[]

Trivia[]

  • Prior to v17.0, Shrapnel Shot would only activate upon a bloon being fully popped and send the shrapnel out in all directions. The above changes were made likely to improve mid-path crosspathing.
  • When not crossed with the first path, the shrapnel does more damage than the main bullet. This is most evident when a well-placed 0-2-5 Elite Defender is fighting the MOABs from a popped BFB; the leading MOAB is the last to pop.
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