| “ | Throws powerful timed charges at MOAB-Class Bloons. | ” |
| ~ In-game description |
Sticky Bomb is the fourth upgrade of Path 3 for the Ninja Monkey in Bloons TD 6. The Ninja Monkey gains an additional attack, throwing sticky bombs at MOAB-class bloons; an applied sticky bomb attaches onto a single bloon and explodes after 3 seconds, dealing 450 damage to the bloon they are attached to, plus a secondary 100 damage normal-type explosion that hits up to 10 other bloons within a 40 blast radius. Sticky Bombs aim according to the Ninja Monkey's own target settings, though Sticky Bombs will attach to the first MOAB-class bloons hit by them. Sticky bombs are shot every 5.0s (or every 3.0s with 1-0-4), and the base range of the Sticky Bomb Ninja increases from 47 to 55. The Counter-Espionage (0-2-4) crosspath will decamo DDTs as soon as the Sticky Bomb is attached, the explosion will not remove camo, however. Shurikens now deal +3 damage against stickied targets, alongside +3 damage to stunned targets like Flash Bomb.
This upgrade costs $4,250 on Easy, $5,000 on Medium, $5,400 on Hard, and $6,000 on Impoppable.
Description[]
Overview[]
Sticky Bomb Ninja with a sticky bomb on a MOAB
The Ninja Monkey with the Sticky Bomb upgrade dons a red Japanese oni mask, and holds a lit bomb in its left hand and a sticky bomb in its right. The sticky bomb is a glue-soaked explosive pack with a red-bulbed antenna. In the upgrade portrait, the Ninja is holding a lit flash bomb on his right hand and a sticky bomb on his left hand.
The Ninja adds a sticky bomb that only targets MOAB-Class Bloons one at time. Sticky bombs explode with a brief time delay and deal 450 damage to the targeted blimp, as well as dealing 100 damage to up to 10 nearby bloons. The Ninja gains more range in addition, and its shurikens deal extra damage to targets that are stunned or have an attached sticky bomb.
Targeting Priorities[]
Sticky Bomb targets bloons using the standard targeting priorities. Its main attack shoots straight movement projectiles.
- 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.
Both shurikens and Flash Bombs are shot in a straight movement, and follow targeting of the Ninja. Sticky Bombs are shot in a straight movement, follow targeting of the Ninja across an extended range, and only target MOAB-class bloons. Caltrops are locked on Normal targeting priority, which dispenses the caltrops onto nearby bloon track in a semi-sporadical behavior.
All Ninja Monkeys can access Camo Prioritization. While Camo Prioritization is active, it allows all its attacks to prioritize Camo Bloons over other types.
Costs[]
- Updated as of Version 42.0. 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-4) | $4,250 | $5,000 | $5,400 | $6,000 | - | |||
| Total (0-0-4) | $7,135 | $8,400 | $9,070 | $10,080 | $4,995 | $5,880 | $6,349 | $7,056 |
| Crosspath (1-0-4) | $7,390 | $8,700 | $9,395 | $10,440 | $5,173 | $6,090 | $6,577 | $7,308 |
| Crosspath (2-0-4) | $7,685 | $9,050 | $9,775 | $10,860 | $5,380 | $6,335 | $6,843 | $7,602 |
| Crosspath (0-1-4) | $7,430 | $8,750 | $9,450 | $10,500 | $5,201 | $6,125 | $6,615 | $7,350 |
| Crosspath (0-2-4) | $7,855 | $9,250 | $9,990 | $11,100 | $5,499 | $6,475 | $6,993 | $7,770 |
This upgrade's prices (or included crosspath's prices) are affected by the following MK: 
Better Sell Deals
Strategy[]
Summary[]
Sticky Bomb is a versatile weapon for the Ninja Monkey, being a high damage projectile that sticks onto any MOAB-Class bloons it hits and goes off on a timer to deal massive damage to said target. While it sounds simple in concept, the execution of the upgrade can be significantly more tricky than expected. The time it requires for the bomb to detonate can lead to several issues if the Ninja is not placed closer to the front as it is to the back of the track, as a normal Ninja being used for Bloon popping power may be, as the less track the bomb has to detonate, the less chance that the resulting Ceramic Bloons or other child bloons will be properly handled.
The sticky bomb itself deals 500 damage upon detonation to its target, making it able to destroy a MOAB upon a successful detonation and cripple slower MOAB-Class bloons, potentially slow enough to have a second bomb applied as well. The secondary sticky bomb explosion can deal some high damage to neighboring bloons close to the exploded sticky bomb, making it easier to destroy groups of nearby higher-HP targets. Sticky Bombs can also be applied to DDTs, though the mechanics of the bomb detonating on a timer and the sheer speed of the DDT make it a difficult choice to justify as a counter-DDT measure.
Unlike the prior upgrade of Flash Bomb, Sticky Bomb serves as a secondary projectile attack separate from the main stream of shurikens and Flash Bombs. This allows the Ninja Monkey to deal consistent damage as well as dish out high burst damage to MOAB-Class bloons, making it a good competitor with the other Ninja Path 1 upgrades in terms of pure offense against both normal bloons and MOAB-Class bloons. Though Path 1 has superior Bloon popping power with Bloonjitsu, Sticky Bomb serves to be the superior MOAB damage source given enough time to work.
Tips[]
- It is usually more wise to go for the 1-0-4 Sticky Bomb rather than the 0-2-4 Sticky Bomb, due to the fact that it improves the rate of throwing Sticky Bombs. There is no need for 2-0-4 unless it is for improving the shuriken attack during earlier rounds.
- 0-2-4 Sticky Bomb might be more useful if utilizing the 0-2-3 Flash Bomb's area-of-effect decamo.
- Adding many Shinobi Tactics nearby allows the Sticky Bomb's secondary explosion to pop grouped blimps better, especially in the late-game. When used effectively, this can wipe out Super Ceramics decently as a side effect.
- Note that the Sticky Bomb's secondary sticky bomb explosion cannot hit the same blimp that the sticky bomb projectile was attached to. Therefore, the sticky bomb will always deal 500 damage to single-target blimps.
- In general, Sticky Bomb is a reliable way to chip down the health of the first tiers of Boss Bloons, as sticky bombs deal high damage to them at a pretty constant rate while not requiring external buffs to become viable.
- Sticky Bomb + Blade Maelstorm is an effective countermeasure against Tier 1 Elite Bloonarius. Against normal Bloonarius, however, it is quite risky due to how reliable Sticky Bomb can inflict damage on Bloonarius.
- Sticky Bomb + MOAB Assassins are an effective countermeasure against Tier 1 Elite Lych and against spawned Lych-Souls. Even just a single Sticky Bomb Ninja is sufficient for normal Lych.
- Sticky Bomb against Tier 1 Elite Vortex works well to apply consistent damage, as Vortex is unable to remove already attached sticky bombs. Combining with extra defenses such as a faraway 2-0-4 Armor Piercing Darts can assist in further damage in conjunction.
- Sticky Bomb is effective against Tier 1 Elite Dreadbloon until the Magic immunity phase, since its sticky is hardly affected by Dreadbloon's resistances and can damage its Lead properties, while consistently damaging it. Consider adding another tower to account for the Magic immunity between 25% and 50% leftover Dreadbloon health. Sticky Bomb’s stickies also ignore Rock Bloons.
- Sticky Bomb is alright versus Phayze at dealing consistent damage, provided it has enough range coverage to hit Phayze during important moments. It lacks any camo disadvantage, being obviously camo-detecting, but starts to fall off somewhat as Phayze reaches critical skulls.
- In general, setting the Sticky Bomb to Strong is optimal to maximize damage to single-target blimps, although setting on First can help its cleanup.
Version History[]
Balance Changes[]
Several buffs were given to Sticky Bomb to make it easier to utilize the sticky bomb attack. This balance change list does not include bugs that may have plagued the Sticky Bomb's effectiveness. Excluding major bug fixes to the Sticky Bomb, the most significant buff for Sticky Bomb is in Version 27.0, where sticky bombs now produce high-damage secondary explosions. Sticky Bomb now considered a meta tower to use on Boss Bloon Events thanks to its reliable but consistent blimp damage. Version 38.0 toned back on the total range of the stickies in exchange for an increased base range. Sticky Bomb had its single-target damage reduced in 42.0 in exchange for shurikens gaining a bonus damage to stickied targets; a raw 1-0-4 Sticky Bomb's shurikens constantly hitting single-target bloons can hit up to 7 times before the sticky bomb explodes, equating to +84 damage compared to before.
- 8.0
Sticky Bomb timer decreased (4s → 3s)
- 21.0
| “ | While Sticky Bomb still has issues we are investigating, this damage buff allows Sticky Bombs to destroy all regular MOABs from round 81 to 100 in a single bomb in standard games whether they are fortified or not. In addition since this damage runs off a timed function, somewhat similar to Alchemist's Unstable Concoction, we felt that adding a range increase to the Sticky attack similar to Concoction should give a better chance to actually explode before the target MOAB is destroyed by other towers. | ” |
| ~ Ninja Kiwi |
- x-x-4 Sticky Bomb damage increased from 400 to 500
- x-x-4 Sticky Bomb 'sticky attack' range increased to Ninja's range * 1.5
- 27.0
| “ | To try and allow more strategic use Ninja's Sticky Bombs will now use the targeting of the main tower instead of always Strong. Additionally as they weren't feeling good enough in general Sticky Bombs will now deal a smaller amount of damage in an AoE to anything surrounding the main target. | ” |
| ~ Ninja Kiwi |
- Sticky Bombs proper are no longer always thrown at the strongest bloon on screen. They are thrown with a similar targeting priority to the ninja itself.
- Sticky Bombs now also deal a 100-damage explosion that has 10 pierce and a radius of 40.
- 28.0
| “ | As ninja is the 'Camo Specialist' and has been since inception, it is the only tower that will unlock Camo Prioritization on the base tower. [...] | ” |
| ~ Ninja Kiwi |
- Affected by base Ninja Monkey, by gaining natural Camo Prioritization target option
- 29.0
- Affected by Distraction providing distraction to Caltrops and Flash Bomb
- 33.0
| “ | Sticky Bomb feels like it is in a very strong point right now in a lot of situations, though flash bomb isn’t good enough without a great deal of support leading into it, this shift should open up for challenge viability especially in Alternate Bloon Rounds games. | ” |
| ~ Ninja Kiwi |
- Sticky Bomb price increased $4500 → $5000
- Overall base price change is $0 because Flash Bomb price decreased by $500.
- 36.0
- Affected by Caltrops lifespan nerf
- 38.0
| “ | We’re mindful that this has been in place since launch, but still think this change could lead to more balanced crosspath Ninja play for casual and for apex players. Ninja's 1xx feels like it does too much, granting both range and attack speed to all crosspaths, so these benefits are now being split apart. As Sticky feels like it’s doing a fair lot of work these days we’re somewhat reworking this path into a range path but taking away the free ‘bonus range’ that Sticky used to gain independent of the tower radius. | ” |
| ~ Ninja Kiwi |
- Sticky Bomb base range increased from 40 → 55
- Note: actual range increase is from 47 → 55, +8 range
- Sticky Bomb's sticky bomb no longer receives +50% extra range, instead matching base tower.
- Note: Base range of the sticky bomb attack reduced from 60 → 55. Does not affect Master Bomber's master sticky bomb.
- 38.1
- Multiple Sticky Bomb’s sticky bombs thrown in quick succession will no longer stack extra sticky bombs on the same target
- 39.0
- Affected by Flash Bomb stun duration buffs
- 41.0
| “ | Flash Bomb has pierce too excessive for Shinobi Tactics to do anything for it but then lacks any actual damage output, so this high pierce is trading in for greater damage. [...] | ” |
| ~ Ninja Kiwi |
- Sticky Bomb's flash bomb pierce reduced from 60 to 30.
- Sticky Bomb's flash bomb damage increased from 1 to 3.
- 42.0
| “ | Bottom path Ninja never does anything with the main shuriken projectile past the xx1 upgrade leaving it inconsequential on higher tiers. Given that Flash Bombs can feel lacking without heavy support, we’re trying out a change that makes Flash Bomb Ninja scale better with attack speed and pierce as something of a combo-attacker. Overall, this feels pretty ‘right’ for ninjas and more importantly it’s cool and sometimes that’s what matters most.Ninja Kiwi | ” |
- Sticky Bomb main Shuriken attack deals more to stunned Bloons +3
- Sticky Bomb main Shuriken attack deals more to stickied targets +3
- Sticky Bomb sticky damage reduced from 500 → 450
Bug Fixes and General Changes[]
The Sticky Bomb attack initially was unreliable due to various bugs when interacting with other status effects, which meant the attack would deal no damage when mixing with other status effects such as glue and napalm.
- 3.0
- Sticky Bombs no longer are removed from MOAB-class bloons when a glue effect expires. In reality, it wasn't fully fixed.
- 22.0
- Sticky Bombs now deal damage more consistently, although still not fully reliably
- 22.1
- Sticky Bombs now deal damage more consistently, although introduced bugs involving retaining health of downgraded bloons via Syphon Funding or Shattering Shells
- 22.2
- Reverted all Version 22.0 bug fix attempts
- 24.0
- Sticky Bomb no longer affected by various bugs involving glue and map tunnels nullifying bomb damage.
- 38.1
- Multiple Sticky Bomb ninja should no longer be able to stack the single target damage of their explosions when clustered together
Sounds[]
When attaching a Sticky Bomb on a MOAB-class bloon:
- [Glue splatting]
- [Glue splatting]
- [Glue splatting]
- [Glue splatting]
- [Glue splatting]
Gallery[]
Official artwork[]
Projectiles[]
Trivia[]
- Although Sticky Bombs cannot be thrown at non-MOAB Class bloons, Bloon Master Alchemist can force a MOAB-Class bloon to become a Red Bloon automatically, allowing a previously attacked Sticky Bomb to be plastered onto the resulting Red Bloon.
- Before Round 93, a normal ordinary-health DDT can have its DDT layer destroyed by a single Sticky Bomb, ignoring any other damage on the DDT. This is because a DDT on (theoretical) Round 92 has +24% more health than its base 400 health, and a 500 damage Sticky Bomb destroys the DDT into its Camo Regrow Ceramic offspring due to that DDT having 496 health. But a Round 93 DDT will have 504 health, so it would have 4 health remaining after detonation.
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