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BTD6

Adds extra pierce and damage to Commander and all Subs in its radius.
~ In-game description

Sub Commander is the fifth and final upgrade in Path 3 for the Monkey Sub in Bloons TD 6. Alongside a faster-firing gun, the Sub Commander grants +4 pierce and double damage for all Monkey Subs in its radius, including itself. The double damage buff towards nearby Subs increases for most attacks that deal extra damage to any Bloon type (darts, ballistic missiles, Bloontonium Reactors, Energizers, Pre-Emptive Strike passive ability missiles) but it will not affect the First Strike ability missiles. Sub Commander buffs prioritize before Alchemist buffs (e.g. Berserker Brew).

The Sub Commander also attacks 2x faster than Triple Guns. Because the Sub Commander can affect itself, it now deals 4 damage for the main dart, 8 versus MOAB-class, and 2 damage for the Airburst Darts, or 4 versus MOAB-class, and Airburst Darts have 9 pierce. Sub Commander alone deals decent DPS for its cost, but its most redeeming factor is its Sub Commander buffs to nearby Subs, allowing the nearby Monkey Sub army to deal immense damage to Bloons, especially in late-game where Bloons predominantly become MOAB-class and Ceramics.

This upgrade costs $21,250 on Easy, $25,000 on Medium, $27,000 on Hard, and $30,000 on Impoppable.

Description[]

Overview[]

Placeholder other

Sub Commander

The sub grows larger still, particularly its fins, and the navy blue prow is replaced with a brighter blue, with a gold lining; this gold lining also appears on the barrels and the railing for the platform the monkey stands on. That platform, incidentally, has gained two fins of its own, painted white with yellow tips. The rest of the sub's hull is still painted white, however the individual plates and rivets are no longer visible, and its windows have taken on a darker tint.

The monkey now wears a navy blue jacket over a white shirt; this jacket has gold buttons and cuffs, just like the previous upgrade's monkey's jacket. Their cap is still the same color. In the upgrade portrait, the Sub Commander's sailor clenches a fist with their left hand as the monkey leers annoyedly to their right side.

Sub Commander's greatest benefit comes from granting double damage and +4 pierce to all Subs in range (all Subs on screen with BeneathTheWavesIcon Sub Admiral MK). In terms of the bonus damage, it doubles damage of Armor Piercing Darts (both the impact and bursts), Bloontonium Reactor pulses (including bonus damage to Leads via 4-2-0 crosspath), the missiles of Ballistic Missile, as well as the pre-emptive missiles of Pre-Emptive Strike, but not the ability missile of First Strike Capability. The buffs granted by Sub Commander is applied before all other damage buffs, so towers like Berserker Brew and Pat Fusty do not see their own damage bonuses doubled.

In addition, the Sub Commander shoots twice as fast compared to Triple Guns, for an attack cooldown of 0.1165s. In combination with its own self-synergetic buff, it gains double damage, for 4 base, with 8 MOAB damage, as well as +4 Airburst pierce, for 9. The doubled damage and bonus pierce derive from its own Sub Commander buffs to all Subs including itself.

Targeting Priorities[]

Sub Commander targets bloons using the standard targeting priorities. It shoots straight movement projectiles that can moderately seek at bloons.

  • 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.

Sub Commander's buff targets towers and is considered an influential tower buff within given range.

Adding Advanced Intel does not add Camo Prioritization, despite being a potential option for camo detection.

Full Popology[]

Statistics[]

Updated as of Version 40.2
Base stats
  • Dart:
    • Projectile, sharp type, 42 range, 0.1167s attack cooldown, 4 damage, +4 MOAB-class damage (8 MOAB-class damage), 1 impact. Moderately homes at bloons at a 170 linear speed and 360 angular speed, with a seeking radius of 27.06. Upon collision with bloon, produce Airburst.
  • Airburst:
    • Burst, sharp type, spray of 3 in a 60° formation from centre, 9 pierce, 2 damage, +2 MOAB-class damage (4 MOAB-class damage).
  • Sub Commander Buff:
    • Passive, 42 range, affects all Monkey Subs within range, gives +4 pierce and double damage to all attacks except x-4+-x First Strike abilities.
Crosspathing interactions
  • 1-0-3: Range increased from 42 to 52.
  • 2-0-3: Dart can aim in direction of all valid tower ranges on screen, and detect Camo if triggered target is inside a camo-detecting range.
  • 0-1-3: Airburst pierce increased from 9 to 12.
  • 0-2-3: Dart and Airburst damage type changed from sharp to normal.
Monkey Knowledge interactions
  • NavalUpgradesIcon Naval Upgrades: All Monkey Subs get +1 pierce.
  • EliteMilitaryTrainingIcon Elite Military Training: All Military Monkeys get a one-off +1000 XP and earn XP in-game 5% faster permanently.
  • QuadBurstIcon Quad Burst: Airburst Darts split into 4 instead of 3.
  • FlankingManeuversIcon Flanking Maneuvers: Attacks 10% faster when set targeting priority to "Last".
  • BeneathTheWavesIcon Sub Admiral: Sub Commander affects all Monkey Subs on screen.
  • MilitaryConscriptionIcon Military Conscription: First military tower costs only ⅔ of the original cost.
    • Monkey Sub base cost from $275, $325, $350, and $390 → $185, $220, $235, and $260 on Easy, Medium, Hard, and Impoppable, respectively.
  • AdvancedLogisticsIcon Advanced Logistics: All Military Monkeys base costs reduced by 5%.
    • Monkey Sub base cost from $275, $325, $350, and $390 → $260, $310, $335, and $370 on Easy, Medium, Hard, and Impoppable, respectively.
      • If Military Conscription is also enabled, the final cost will be $170, $200, $220, and $240.
  • 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)
  • Dart:
    • Sharp Type (pops Black, White, Purple) Sharp
    • Single Projectile Single Projectile
    • Straight Attack Straight Attack
    • Moderate Seeking Moderate Seeking
    • Impact Impact
    • Extra damage to all bloon types (4) Extra Damage (4)
    • Extra damage versus MOAB-class Bloons (+4) Extra Damage to Blimps (+4)
  • Airburst Dart:
    • Sharp Type (pops Black, White, Purple) Sharp
    • Burst (unspecified variant) Burst (origin: Dart)
    • Angular Spray (unspecified quantity and angle) Angular Spray (3)
    • Straight Attack Straight Attack
    • Extra damage versus MOAB-class Bloons (+1) Extra Damage to Blimps (+2)
    • Extra damage to all bloon types (2) Extra Damage (2)
  • Sub Commander Buff:
    • Passive Type (no attack) Passive
    • Targets Tower(s) (targets all Subs in range) Target Tower (target: all Subs in range)
    • Tower Buff (targets all Subs in range) Tower Buff (target: all Subs in range)
    • Influence (unspecified influential boost) Influence

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-5) $21,250 $25,000 $27,000 $30,000 -
Total (0-0-5) $26,240 $30,875 $33,345 $37,050 $18,368 $21,613 $23,342 $25,935
Crosspath (1-0-5) $26,350 $31,005 $33,485 $37,205 $18,445 $21,704 $23,440 $26,044
Crosspath (2-0-5) $26,775 $31,505 $34,025 $37,805 $18,743 $22,054 $23,818 $26,464
Crosspath (0-1-5) $26,620 $31,325 $33,830 $37,590 $18,634 $21,928 $23,681 $26,313
Crosspath (0-2-5) $26,875 $31,625 $34,155 $37,950 $18,813 $22,138 $23,909 $26,565

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[]

Sub Commander is a highly versatile tower whose benefits lie primarily in buffing nearby Monkey Subs. Although most powerful when paired with multiple nearby Subs, the Sub Commander itself can solo a few difficult rounds without the help of nearby Subs around it. On its own, a lone 2-0-5 Sub Commander can solo the hyperclumped Ceramics on Round 63 with relative ease on most maps, given sufficient range.

In order to make the most of this upgrade, multiple Subs should be placed nearby, preferably multiple 2-0-3 Triple Guns or multiple 0-3-2 Ballistic Missiles. 2-0-3 Triple Guns spam is highly effective against wiping out multiple bloons along a far range but with effective seeking power to catch any outlying bloons. On the other hand, 0-3-2 Ballistic Missile spam is highly effective at DPS overall, but comes at the cost of rather limited range. However, spamming enough of 0-3-2 Subs around the Sub Commander may counteract such a limitation, given how the Ballistic Missile upgrade naturally grant such Subs with a sizeable range buff.

The one other very powerful interaction with Subs is with Pre-Emptive Strike's passive ability missiles. Assuming standard blimp health rules, Pre-Emptive Strike nearby a Sub Commander can single-handedly nullify the presence of incoming DDTs (until Round 131), including Fortified DDTs (until Round 110), which a non-supported Pre-Emptive Strike cannot destroy in one hit.

Tips[]

  • It is recommended players place the tower in the center of an area with lots of water (such as Spice Islands, Cubism, Peninsula, #Ouch) to maximize its potential. Even low-level Subs become much more effective when combined with this tower and Triple Guns or Armor-Piercing Subs can even destroy ZOMGs when positioned correctly.
  • When utilizing the special +4 pierce and double damage that Sub Commander provides to nearby Subs, it is best to start off with spamming in x-x-3 Subs, rather than x-x-4 Subs. Although a single Armor Piercing Darts nearby Sub Commander effect will produce more damage overall than two Triple Guns Subs nearby the same Sub Commander, the increased numbers of Airburst Darts from extra Triple Guns Subs is superior when it comes to effective cleanup.
  • The BeneathTheWavesIcon Sub Admiral MK allows the Sub Commander to affect ALL Monkey Subs on screen.
    • If the BeneathTheWavesIcon Sub Admiral MK is disabled, it is best to crosspath Sub Commander to 2-0-5 rather than 0-2-5, as the extra range will allow a greater quantity of Subs to be provided the special Sub Commander benefits. In addition, the Advanced Intel special range will allow the Sub Commander's increased attack speed to become utilized to the optimal potential. Disregarding MK, it is still better off going for a 2-0-5 Sub Commander to take advantage of its increased damage via near-global attack range. The pierce buffs and lead-popping from Path 2 are not nearly as versatile, although it may be necessary if destroying bloons quickly within low range is important.
  • Sub Commander is able to beat Round 63 on its own on most maps, provided it or other towers can pop Lead Bloons. Add Alchemist buffs to help improve its performance against dense Bloon rounds even further.
  • The double-damage buff provided by Sub Commander affects all nearby Monkey Sub attacks, including internal crosspath benefits (i.e. Heat-tipped Darts plus Bloontonium Reactor or Energizer), except for First Strike ability missiles.
    • Sub Commander plus Pre-Emptive Strike nearby can neutralize even the Fortified DDTs from Round 99, assuming standard blimp health. BADs, which spawn DDTs, can be easily handled with the First Strike ability, although this particular ability is not affected by the increased damage buff.

Version History[]

Balance Changes[]

Sub Commander initially lacked any benefit besides a passive buff for nearby Subs. It got buffed in Version 8.0 to actually buff itself, plus faster attack speed on top. It got buffed again in Version 18.0 to benefit more than just Path 3 Sub spam, and Version 20.0 slightly nerfed its pierce buff to nearby Subs to encourage purchase of additional AP Darts instead of simply adding more Triple Guns. The base pierce nerfs mean little to the Sub Commander itself because its attacks have already quite high pierce.

3.0
  • BUFF Sub Commander's Airburst Darts are now affected by external buffs such as Alchemist
8.0
  • BUFF Sub Commander now also buffs itself.
  • BUFF Sub Commander now has 2x attack speed.
12.0
  • NERF Sub Commander airburst dart pierce decreased (11 → 10)
18.0
  • BUFF Sub Commander now grants 2x damage for submerged Energizer, Ballistic Missiles, Armor Piercing Darts, and Pre-Emptive Strike passive ability, including crosspath benefits. Does not affect First Strike Capability ability missiles.
    • BUFF Sub Commander increases Lead bonus of 420 Reactor Sub from +1 to +2
    • BUFF Sub Commander increases Energizer damage by 2x
    • BUFF Sub Commander increases Ballistic Missile Multi-HP Bloon damage from 6 to 12
    • BUFF Sub Commander increases Pre-Emptive Strike passive ability damage increases from 750 to 1500
    • BUFF Sub Commander increases Armor Piercing Darts main dart damage versus MOAB-class to 8 (instead of 5 pre-update), and airburst dart damage vs MOAB-class to 4 (instead of 3 pre-update), and increases main dart damage from 2 to 4.
20.0
The cost efficiency of Sub Commander's +5 pierce favored low tiers more than we'd like. Fortunately other paths of sub don't care so much about pierce, so as xx4 AP Darts gives its own large pierce increase we hope lowering the amount of this buff slightly will make driving to T4 more meaningful.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • NERF Sub Commander pierce buff decreased (+5 → +4)

Bug Fixes and General Changes[]

9.0
  • Change Description translation fixed.
18.0
  • Change Description updated to include a generic buff for Subs, to update for the 18.0 buff
    • Version 18.0 changed the description for Sub Commander to accommodate the new changes. Prior to this update, it used to be "Grants +5 pierce and +1 damage to all Subs in its radius."

Gallery[]

Official artwork[]

Support buffs[]

Trivia[]

  • Sub Commander formerly had no effect on itself. This was changed as of Version 8.0, as it now gains Sub Commander buffs of its own plus doubled attack speed.
    • In addition, Sub Commander now has an additional 2x attack speed to itself only.
  • Even though the Version 18.0 patch notes stated that it granted 2x damage for all Energizers and Ballistic Missiles, the double damage buff also applies to Armor Piercing Darts versus MOAB-class too, as tested on here. It has also been tested on all sorts of other projectiles on this wiki page too (as shown in the "Support buffs" section of the gallery section).
  • One x-x-4 Armor Piercing Darts supported by Sub Commander is the same as a Sub Commander of the same crosspaths except without the double attack speed.
  • In Version 23.0, there was a bug where Pat's Rallying Roar damage buff prioritized before the Sub Commander damage buff, leading to affected Monkey Subs actually gaining double the Rallying Roar buff instead of just a straight +1 or +3 damage buff. This made pairing a Sub Commander + Triple Guns army a much stronger synergy with Pat than normal. This was fixed in Version 23.1.
  • Sub Commander is the only Tier 5 Monkey Sub to have a visible monkey.
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