Tack Shooter

“	Shoots a short range volley of sharp tacks in 8 directions.	”
	~ Bloons Tower Defense 6 description

The Tack Shooter is a tower in the Bloons Tower Defense series that first appeared in the original Bloons Tower Defense and it is an original tower. It appears in every BTD game except Bloons Adventure Time TD. The Tack Shooter is a pink and grey mechanical device that shoots a volley of tacks in eight directions. Since BTD3, upgrading the Tack Shooter can even change the types and numbers of projectiles shot from the Tack Shooter. For instance, certain upgrades modify the Tack Shooter to shoot blades or flame rings instead of tacks, or they may increase the number of projectiles shot per volley.

Although it has a short range, these towers are very effective at thinning out crowds of Bloons at corners and intersections. These towers are relatively cheap, making them useful in early rounds. Each individual tack that the Tack Shooter fires has a popping power of 1. This changes with various upgrades. Tack Shooters have a slow rate of fire (0.6 shots per second) compared to other towers initially, which limits their strength.

Tack Shooters were previously called Tack Towers in Bloons Tower Defense. This was changed in later BTD games for unknown reasons, possibly for tower name variety.

Bloons Tower DefenseEdit

The Tack Shooter, along with the Dart Monkey, Ice Tower, Bomb Tower, and Super Monkey, is one of the towers featured in the original Bloons Tower Defense. These 5 towers also appear in every subsequent BTD game. As with every other tower, the Tack Shooter has one upgrade on two different paths: Faster Shooting and Extra Range Tacks. Unlike BTD3 and future BTD games, the Tack Shooter does not change appearance regardless of upgrades.

As mentioned before, it is best to place Tack Shooters at the corners and intersections of the track to have maximum poppage. This tower performs best in groups. It is best to purchase Tack Shooters during later rounds, as starting the game with Tack Shooters will cause a money issue later in the game. Adding Tack Shooters to your defense can really help out with popping all Bloons, and it is a good idea to include them in your defense.

There is a glitch with the Tack Shooter, involving the Tab button on the keyboard. Said glitch actually allows one to win using only Tack Shooters, a feat Ninja Kiwi deems impossible.

Bloons Tower Defense 2Edit

The Tack Shooter appears in Bloons Tower Defense 2. There are no new upgrades for the Tack Shooter or most towers as a matter of fact. The Tack Shooter undergoes no change between BTD and BTD2, in terms of functionality and appearance.

Tower CostsEdit

	Easy	Medium	Hard
Tower Cost	$340	$385	$390
Faster Shooting	$180	$205	$210
Extra Range	$90	$100	$105
Total Sell Amount	$488	$536	$564
Total Cost	$610	$690	$705

Bloons Tower Defense 3Edit

The Tack Shooter appears in Bloons Tower Defense 3. As with all other towers, the Tack Shooter has two upgrades on two separate paths. The first path focuses on offensive upgrades, while the second path focuses on range upgrades. The second upgrade for the first path is the new addition to the Tack Shooter: the Blade Shooter. The Blade Shooter greatly increases the popping power of the Tack Shooter. Besides the Blade Shooter upgrade, there has been no major change in the Tack Shooter since BTD2, appearance-wise and function-wise.

Tower CostsEdit

	Easy	Medium	Hard
Tower Cost	$305	$365	$390
Faster Shooting	$170	$205	$210
Blade Shooter	$155	$185	$195
Longer Range	$85	$100	$110
Even Longer Range	$85	$100	$110
Total Sell Amount	$684	$754	$812
Total Cost	$800	$955	$1,015

Bloons Tower Defense 4Edit

In Bloons Tower Defense 4, the Tack Shooter, along with every other tower, gets a huge improvement.

Tower CostsEdit

	Easy	Medium	Hard
Tower Cost	$305	$360	$390
Faster Shooting	$180	$210	$225
Extra Range	$85	$100	$110
Blade Shooter	$240	$280	$300
Ring of Fire	$2,125	$2,500	$2,700
Total Sell Amount	$2,348	$2,760	$2,828
Total Cost	$2,935	$3,450	$3,725

Bloons Tower Defense 5Edit

Once again, the Tack Shooter along with all towers in BTD gets a huge improvement, with two paths of powerful upgrades.

Tower XPEdit

level	upgrade	xp to get to this level	total xp	rank required
1	Base Tower	N/A	0	2
2	Faster Shooting	85	85	2
3	Extra Range Tacks	305	390	2
4	Even Faster Shooting	770	1,160	2
5	Super Range Tacks	1,260	2,420	2
6	Tack Sprayer	2,842	5,262	2
7	Blade Shooter	4,785	10,047	2
8	Ring of Fire	13,545	23,592	22
9	Blade Maelstrom	21,938	45,530	22

Path 1Edit

	Easy	Medium	Hard	Impoppable
Faster Shooting Shoots tacks faster.	$180	$210	$225	$250
Even Faster Shooting Further increases attack speed.	$255	$300	$325	$360
Tack Sprayer Sprays out 16 tacks per volley instead of the usual 8.	$425	$500	$540	$600
Ring of Fire Upgrades to a fast firing burst tower that shoots a deadly ring of flame instead of tacks. Also increases range.	$2,125	$2,500	$2,700	$3,000
Total Sell Amount	$2,388	$2,808	$3,032	$3,712 ($4,024 with path 2 upgrades)
Total Cost	$3,290	$3,870	$4,180	$4,610 ($5,030 with path 2 upgrades)

Path 2Edit

	Easy	Medium	Hard	Impoppable
Extra Range Tacks Tacks have increased range.	$85	$100	$110	$120
Super Range Tacks Tacks have further increased range.	$190	$225	$245	$270
Blade Shooter Converts the tower into a blade shooter that shoots out razor sharp blades that are harder for bloons to avoid.	$580	$680	$735	$815
Blade Maelstrom Blade Maelstrom Ability: covers the area in an unstoppable storm of blades.	$2,295	$2,700	$2,915	$3,240
Total Sell Amount	$2,528	$2,968	$3,204	$3,900 ($4,388 with path 1 upgrades)
Total Cost	$3,455	$4,065	$4,395	$4,875 ($5,485 with path 1 upgrades)

Differences Between BTD5 Flash and BTD5 MobileEdit

Ring of Fire has a slower attack speed (2.3 shots per second → ?).

Ring of Fire attack range can be extended past 4/1. This was a bug in BTD5 Flash.

Blade Maelstrom ability can pop camo bloons if the tower is under the influence of a x/2 Monkey Village.

Blade Maelstrom no longer plays a sound when the ability is activated.

Blade Maelstrom still disperses blades even if sold during the duration of the activated ability.

Blade Maelstrom disperses blades clockwise instead of counterclockwise.

Update History (Bloons TD Battles Mobile)Edit

Tack Shooter hasn't seen as much use in Battles Mobile compared to Flash, possibly due to a less effective Ring of Fire and players only being able to choose 3 towers reliably as opposed to 4. Tack Shooter overall isn't used often as one of three main towers, due to its inability to pop camo bloons, despite being useful early-game. On most occasions when using a Tack Shooter, however, players tend to use Blade Maelstrom in emergencies of rushes such as Regrow Rainbow Rush of Death/Doom. Popular loadouts include Tack Farm Mortar, Tack Farm Sub, and Tack Village Chipper.

Tack Shooter has overall been buffed via game updates.

4.3

Extra Range Tacks price decreased ($100 → $75).

Super Range Tacks price decreased ($225 → $175).

Blade Shooter price decreased ($680 → $600).

Blade Maelstrom price increased ($2700 → $2800). However, it should be noted that due to the previous 3 upgrades all getting price buffs, this nerf is completely negligible since the overall cost to get a 0/4 Tack Shooter is cheaper ($4065 → $3910).

4.3.1

Blade Shooter pierce increased (2 → 3).

Tower tipsEdit

• Breaking a massive number of Lead or Ceramic Bloons is not impossible. Tack Shooter's 4-2 upgrade can take off all layers of a group of Lead Bloons and does heavy damage on Ceramic Bloons, whilst 2-4 upgrade, especially its ability, can massively break off the shell of a group of Ceramic Bloons with only 1 blade if too close, then entirely pops away all layers of it with only a few blades not over than 6-10.
• In order to counter this, buying an Arctic Wind and combining it with a Ring of Fire will decimate Bloons.
• If dealing with a group of MOAB-class Bloons, its ability can shred them off no matter how many times you activated it's ability (best record is activated once can completely pop it away, with 15% chance), especially when they're too close.
• At the start of the turn, if you want to pop multiple layers of bloons, best use 3-2 upgrade at first. It's because by popping the bloons with 1 tack may pop away a layer, they can easily hit another tack since they can still travel, resulting in another pop (the best record is 3 layers per shot, with 8% chance).
  • But if players want to deal with gaps, 2-3 upgrade will fit into it since blades are larger than tacks that can easily hit bloons.
• The 3-# can do lots of damage to MOAB class bloons since it's a volley of 16 tacks (but not all of it) can easily hit the big hitbox of MOAB class bloons
  • Because of this, upgrading to a 4-# does less damage since it doesn't equal to 16 tacks. However, it can pop more bloons which balances it out.

Bloons Tower Defense 6Edit

The Tack Shooter returns once more in the sixth iteration of Bloons Tower Defense, continuing its service as a cheap, area denial-focused tower. Compared to BTD5, the placement of some upgrades have been re-arranged to take advantage of the new three-path upgrade system.

The first path is, like many other towers, a powerful offensive focus, gaining Hot Shots that let it pop Lead Bloons, the Ring of Fire, and the powerful Inferno Ring. The second path is untouched, still focusing on area support. The third path is solely focused on increasing the amount of tacks the Tack Shooter can output, with each tier multiplying tacks per shot.

This tower is not to be underestimated for its low prices: it is highly capable at cheap crowd control that can extend mid to late-game, and third path upgrades increase the amount of tacks that can hit one bloon at a time, with M.O.A.B. Class Bloons and their bulky frames being highly susceptible to multi-hits in particular. A Blade Maelstrom given camo detection can easily destroy any wave of tightly packed ceramics with its ability, outside of Freeplay Mode rules. Overdrive and The Tack Zone can decimate MOAB-class bloons with ease due to both their high attack speed and large numbers of projectiles.

The Tack Shooter is categorized as a Primary class tower. It can receive benefits from the first path upgrades of the Monkey Village, Primary Training, and beyond.

Path 1Edit

	Easy	Medium	Hard	Impoppable	Unlock XP
Faster Shooting Shoots tacks faster.	$125	$150	$160	$180	150
Even Faster Shooting Shoots tacks even faster.	$255	$300	$325	$360	550
Hot Shots Shoots superhot tacks that do extra damage and can pop Lead Bloons.	$510	$600	$650	$720	2,400
Ring of Fire Shoots a deadly ring of flame instead of tacks.	$3,825	$4,500	$4,860	$5,400	9,500
Inferno Ring Deadly inferno of flame roasts Bloons into oblivion.	$42,500	$50,000	$54,000	$60,000	32,500
Total Sell Amount	Tier 4: $3,469 Tier 5: $33,219	Tier 4: $4,081 Tier 5: $39,081	Tier 4: $4,407 Tier 5: $42,207	Tier 4: $4,897 Tier 5: $46,897	N/A
Total Cost	Tier 4: $4,955 Tier 5: $47,455	Tier 4: $5,830 Tier 5: $55,830	Tier 4: $6,295 Tier 5: $60,295	Tier 4: $6,995 Tier 5: $66,995	45,100

Path 2Edit

	Easy	Medium	Hard	Impoppable	Unlock XP
Long Range Tacks Tacks fly out further than normal.	$85	$100	$110	$120	140
Super Range Tacks Even longer range tacks that can pop more Bloons.	$190	$225	$245	$270	500
Blade Shooter Switches tacks for sharp blades that can pop up to 5 additional Bloons. (Actually pops 6 bloons per shot)	$465	$550	$595	$660	2,300
Blade Maelstrom Blade Maelstrom ability: Covers the area in a storm of blades.	$2,295	$2,700	$2,915	$3,240	9,000
Super Maelstrom Even more powerful Maelstrom ability and lasts longer.	$12,750	$15,000	$16,200	$18,000	28,000
Total Sell Amount	Tier 4: $2,293 Tier 5: $11,218	Tier 4: $2,699 Tier 5: $13,199	Tier 4: $2,916 Tier 5: $14,256	Tier 4: $3,238 Tier 5: $15,838	N/A
Total Cost	Tier 4: $3,275 Tier 5: $16,025	Tier 4: $3,855 Tier 5: $18,855	Tier 4: $4,165 Tier 5: $20,365	Tier 4: $4,625 Tier 5: $22,625	39,940

Path 3Edit

	Easy	Medium	Hard	Impoppable	Unlock XP
More Tacks Shoots 10 tacks instead of 8.	$85	$100	$110	$120	150
Even More Tacks Shoots out 12 tacks per shot.	$85	$100	$110	$120	490
Tack Sprayer Sprays out 16 tacks per volley.	$350	$450	$485	$540	2,450
Overdrive Shoots incredibly fast.	$2,720	$3,200	$3,455	$3,840	8,750
The Tack Zone Many, many tacks. (Shoots 32 tacks that pop Lead much faster over a much longer range.)	$20,400	$24,000	$25,920	$28,800	26,500
Total Sell Amount	Tier 4: $1,992 Tier 5: $20,570	Tier 4: $2,401 Tier 5: $16,401	Tier 4: $2,594 Tier 5: $17,714	Tier 4: $2,881 Tier 5: $19,681	N/A
Total Cost	Tier 4: $2,845 Tier 5: $29,385	Tier 4: $3,430 Tier 5: $23,430	Tier 4: $3,705 Tier 5: $25,305	Tier 4: $4,115 Tier 5: $28,115	38,340

Version History (BTD6)Edit

Initial (compared to BTD5)

• Faster Shooting costs less ($210 --> $150)
• Tack Sprayer now is an upgrade separate from Path 1 that shoots 33% faster than normal.
• Tack Sprayer costs less ($500 --> $450)
• Blade Shooter now attacks slightly faster.
• Blade Shooter pops more bloons per blade (2 --> 5)
• Blade Shooter costs less ($680 --> $550)
• Several changes in path placement of the upgrades; some upgrades are moved to different paths. Tack Sprayer now succeeds More Tacks and Even More Tacks, while Hot Shots is the new Path 1 Tier 3 upgrade.
• Ring of Fire now deals more damage (1 --> 2) along with greater attack speed.
• Ring of Fire costs more ($2500 --> $4500).

Balance ChangesEdit

4.0

• x5x Super Maelstrom ability duration increased (TBA seconds --> 6 seconds)
• x5x Super Maelstrom damage increased by +1, including for its ability.

6.0

• 5xx Inferno Ring increased damage to MOAB-class (5 --> 8).

7.0

• 4xx Ring of Fire damage increased from 2 → 3
• 5/#/# Inferno Ring damage increased from 2 → 4 (still does +6 damage to MOAB-class)

8.0

• Base Tack Shooter attack cooldown decreased (1.6s --> 1.4s).
  • Overall attack speed boost stacks with additional attack speed upgrades (e.g. all Tack Shooter attack speed upgrades: Faster Shooting, Even Faster Shooting, Inferno Ring, Overdrive, The Tack Zone)
• 5xx Inferno Ring now adds a new special attack: Launches a homing meteor set on Strong (cooldown of 7s, damage of 700, projectile speed of 100, pierce of 1, infinite range)

11.0

• x4x Blade Maelstrom ability duration increased (2s --> 3s)
• x5x Super Maelstrom ability duration increased (6s --> 9s)

12.0

• 5xx Inferno Ring lava bomb cooldown reduced 7s -> 4s
• xx4 Overdrive (and by extension The Tack Zone) attack speed increased from x2 to x3.

13.0

• xx4 Overdrive cost increased ($2500 --> $3200)
• xx5 The Tack Zone cost increased ($20,000 --> $24,000)

17.0

• 5xx Inferno Ring Meteor attack now creates an explosion on impact with pierce 10, radius 18, 50 damage, this also applies a DoT of 50 damage per second for 4 seconds.

18.0

• x2x Super Range Tacks pierce increased by +1 (x3x and above remains at 6 pierce)

Bug fixes and other changesEdit

2.0

• 4+xx Ring of Fire will now be able to pop purple bloons while under an MIB
• xx5 The Tack Zone projectile lifespan now correctly increases with range buffs

9.0

• Blade Maelstrom projectiles are no longer deleted at the end of the round in Race events.

GalleryEdit

TriviaEdit

• The Pre-Round Comments in Bloons TD 1 say that beating the original Bloons Tower Defense with only Tack Shooters is impossible. Despite this, the task has been done many times before.
  • Also, in BTD1/2, the player can create hypersonic tack shooters by pressing tab and repeatedly purchasing Faster Shooting. It will be able to shred most bloons easily.
• The Tack Shooter is one of only 2 towers to have its BTD4 3rd and 4th upgrades to be on completely separate paths in BTD5. A player could have Blade Shooter or Ring of Fire in BTD5, but not both. It shares this trait with the Mortar Tower.
  • This has happened yet again in the transition from BTD5 to BTD6, as Ring of Fire and Tack Sprayer are on separate paths.
    • Both transitions involved the Ring of Fire.
• The icon for Bloons Tower Defense (iPhone/iPod) is a Tack Shooter.
• If you have Monkey Fort, Tack Awesomizer, and a Tier 3 Tack Research Center, a single Tack can pierce through 3 bloons (4 every second shot).
  • In Bloons TD 5 Mobile, you can get a Tier 4 Tack Research Center, making the tack pierce through 4 bloons.
• The Tack Shooter range is as short as the Ice Tower range.
• In the artwork for BTD5, the upgrade Faster Shooting gives the shooter 3 tack icons on the top. It actually keeps the crossed over tacks on the top in the game. Viceversa when you get Even Faster Shooting.
• The Tack Shooter's attack method and appearance bears a resemblance to the Gloom-Shroom from the Plants Vs. Zombies games. The Gloom-shroom, however, is much cheaper and much more powerful.
• The cost of the Ring of Fire has been nerfed to make it more expensive, in Bloons Monkey City Mobile. This also applied to BTD5 Mobile but it's been reverted back to its old cost.
• Ring of Fire cannot attack in a larger range when influenced by Monkey Beacon. The range will increase and the Ring of Fire will start attacking bloons once they get in that range, but the fire can't reach them until they get to the original range. This does not apply to the mobile versions of BTD.
• In BTD5, Tack and Blade Shooters are depicted with only six shooters in their portraits, and Tack Sprayers only depict 12 shooters.
• In BMC, the My Monkeys panel states the Tack Shooter as "Monkey-operated".
• The first true nerf for the Tack Shooter in BTD6 was in Version 13.0, where Overdrive and The Tack Zone both received price nerfs..

v • d • e Towers in the Bloons TD Series BTD1 New Towers Dart Tower · Tack Tower · Ice Tower · Bomb Tower · Super Monkey BTD2 Pre-existing Dart Monkey · Tack Shooter · Ice Ball · Cannon · Super Monkey New Towers Boomerang Thrower · Road Spikes · Monkey Glue BTD3 Pre-existing Dart Monkey · Tack Shooter · Ice Ball · Cannon · Road Spikes · Monkey Glue · Boomerang Thrower · Super Monkey New Towers Spike-O-Pult · Monkey Beacon · Pineapple · Monkey Storm BTD4 Pre-existing Dart Monkey · Tack Shooter · Boomerang Thrower · Bomb Tower · Ice Tower · Monkey Beacon · Super Monkey · Road Spikes · Monkey Glue · Pineapple New Towers Mortar Tower · Glue Gunner · Monkey Ace · Monkey Buccaneer · Monkey Apprentice · Banana Farm · Dartling Gun · Spike Factory BTD4 iOS Pre-existing Dart Monkey · Tack Shooter · Boomerang Thrower · Bomb Tower · Ice Tower · Mortar Tower · Glue Gunner · Monkey Beacon · Monkey Ace · Monkey Buccaneer · Monkey Apprentice · Super Monkey · Banana Farm · Road Spikes · Monkey Glue · Pineapple · Dartling Gun · Spike Factory New Towers Beekeeper BTD5 Pre-existing Dart Monkey · Tack Shooter · Boomerang Thrower · Bomb Tower · Ice Tower · Mortar Tower · Glue Gunner · Monkey Ace · Monkey Buccaneer · Monkey Apprentice · Super Monkey · Banana Farm · Road Spikes · Monkey Glue · Exploding Pineapples · Dartling Gun · Spike Factory New Towers Sniper Monkey · Ninja Monkey · Monkey Village · Monkey Sub BTD5 Steam Pre-existing Dart Monkey · Tack Shooter · Sniper Monkey · Boomerang Thrower · Ninja Monkey · Bomb Tower · Ice Tower · Glue Gunner · Monkey Buccaneer · Monkey Ace · Super Monkey · Monkey Apprentice · Monkey Village · Banana Farm · Mortar Tower · Dartling Gun · Spike Factory · Road Spikes · Exploding Pineapples New Towers Heli Pilot · Monkey Engineer · Bloonchipper · Monkey Sub BTD5 Mobile Pre-existing Dart Monkey · Tack Shooter · Sniper Monkey · Boomerang Thrower · Ninja Monkey · Bomb Tower · Ice Tower · Glue Gunner · Monkey Buccaneer · Monkey Ace · Super Monkey · Monkey Apprentice · Monkey Village · Banana Farm · Mortar Tower · Dartling Gun · Spike Factory · Road Spikes · Exploding Pineapples New Towers Heli-Pilot · Monkey Engineer · Bloonchipper · Monkey Sub (requires 250,000 pops) BTDB Mobile Pre-existing Dart Monkey · Tack Shooter · Sniper Monkey · Boomerang Thrower · Ninja Monkey · Bomb Tower · Ice Tower · Glue Gunner · Monkey Buccaneer · Monkey Ace · Super Monkey · Monkey Apprentice · Monkey Village · Banana Farm · Mortar Tower · Dartling Gun · Spike Factory · Heli-Pilot · Monkey Engineer · Bloonchipper · Monkey Sub New Towers COBRA BTD6 Primary Monkeys Dart Monkey · Boomerang Monkey · Bomb Shooter · Tack Shooter · Ice Monkey · Glue Gunner Military Monkeys Sniper Monkey · Monkey Sub · Monkey Buccaneer · Monkey Ace · Heli Pilot · Mortar Monkey Magic Monkeys Wizard Monkey · Super Monkey · Ninja Monkey · Alchemist (new to BTD6) · Druid (new to BTD6) Support Monkeys Banana Farm · Spike Factory · Monkey Village · Engineer Monkey Heroes (new to BTD6) Quincy · Gwendolin · Striker Jones · Obyn Greenfoot · Captain Churchill · Benjamin · Ezili · Pat Fusty · Adora · Admiral Brickell · Etienne Other Cave Monkey (new to BTD6, easter egg)