Tack Shooter (BTDB2)

Overview

Pre-BTD4

BTD4

BTD5

BTD6

BTDB2

Tack Shooter
General Information
Game	Bloons TD Battles 2 (v1.0)
Release Date	November 30th 2021 (11:00 AM UTC)
Class	Primary Monkey
Unlocked at	Unlocked by default
Cost	$280
Activated Ability(s)	Blade Maelstrom Super Maelstrom
Targeting Options	None First, Last, Close and Strong with Inferno Ring
Hotkey	Depends on loadout (W, E, R)
Other Names	Tack
Statistics
Damage	1 (spray of 8)
Pierce	1 (spray of 8)
Attack Speed	Moderately Slow (every 1.4s)
Range	40
Status Effects	N/A
Tower Boosts	N/A
Income/Life Boosts	N/A
Camo Detection	Not at Base (5-x-x meteor detects Camo)
Footprint	Small (6)
Default Damage Type	Sharp
Related Towers
Tack Shooter (BTD5), for the BTD5 counterpart Tack Shooter (BTD6), for the BTD6 counterpart

“	Shoots a short-range volley of sharp tacks in 8 directions.	”
	~ In-Game Description

The Tack Shooter is a Primary-class tower in Bloons TD Battles 2. Like its Bloons TD 6 counterpart, the tower retains its name and role from the Bloons TD 4, 5, and Classic game generations. It is unlocked when first starting the game, alongside the Dart Monkey, Bomb Shooter, and Quincy.

As a base tower, the Tack Shooter has 23 range, firing 8 single-pierce tacks radially every 1.4 seconds. The tower can not pop lead or camo without upgrades.

The Tack Shooter excels at early-game due to its low cost, high rate of fire, and high number of projectiles. Placing the Tack Shooter in loops or corners will maximize the number of tacks used. Beyond this, the Tack Shooter has strong potential, with upgrades increasing its pierce, projecitle number and range. Conversely, the Tack Shooter is weak against Lead Bloons, Camo Bloons and on maps that lack bends.

The base price for Tack Shooter is $280. It is unlocked by default, unlocking all upgrades up to Tier 4, plus another 1,500 (or $2.99 USD) to unlock all its Tier 5 upgrades.

Appearance

The operator monkey as seen on the Mastery cosmetics page

The Tack Shooter retains its look from previous generations as a pink, metal cannon with barrels facing radially outwards. There are dark-grey metal bands running along the outside of the tack shooter. The projectiles are single tacks, identical to those clumped by the Spike Factory and shot by Sentry Turrets. Traditionally, the Tack Shooter has never officially been considered a monkey, but rather an autonomous machine. However, the Operator Monkey Idle Animation Customization reads "Who did you think loaded all those tacks?" This indicates that there is, in fact, a canonical monkey operating the Tack Shooter from the inside.

Upgrades

The Tack Shooter consists of three paths which all excel at area of effect damage, high pierce, high rate-of-fire, and single target damage to varying degrees.

The first path enhances rate of fire, adding fire-based attacks at the third tier for lead popping power and bonus damage. The fourth tier switches out tacks for a Ring of Fire, and the fifth tier increases range, damage, fire rate, and adds an exploding homing meteor attack.

The second path enhances pierce, with tacks being switched out for blades at the third tier. The third and fourth tier Maelstrom abiliities are extremely useful for providing a quick respite from large swathes of Bloons.

The third path increases the number of tacks at each upgrade. Notably, the Overdrive and Tack Zone are incredibly efficient popping power towers for their price.

Path 1

	Faster Shooting COST: $150 UNLOCK: Default
	Description: Shoots tacks faster. Effect: Attacks +33% faster (0.75x attack cooldown)

	Even Faster Shooting COST: $400 UNLOCK: Default
	Description: Shoots tacks even faster. Effect: Attacks +66% faster (0.60x attack cooldown)

	Hot Shots COST: $700 UNLOCK: Default
	Description: Shoots superhot tacks that do extra damage and can pop Lead Bloons. Effect: Pops Frozen and Lead and tacks deal +1 damage.

	Ring of Fire COST: $3,500 UNLOCK: Default
	Description: Damages many more Bloons with a deadly ring of flame instead of tacks. Effect: Instead of tacks, creates bursts of flame that deal 3 damage per shot and pop 45 bloons per shot. Cannot pop Purples.

	Inferno Ring COST: $45,500 UNLOCK: 1,500 (T5 unlocks)
	Description: Deadly inferno of flame roasts bloons into oblivion. Effect: Powerful bursts of flame deal 11 damage, 18 damage to MOAB-class, and attack much faster. Also creates explosive burning meteors that deal huge damage to the first bloon hit and set nearby bloons on fire.

Path 2

	Long Range Tacks COST: $100 UNLOCK: Default
	Description: Tacks fly out further than normal. Effect: Gains +4 range. Rings of Fire also gain +10 pierce.

	Super Range Tacks COST: $225 UNLOCK: Default
	Description: Even longer range tacks that can pop more Bloons. Effect: Gains +1 pierce and another +4 range. Rings of Fire also gain another +5 pierce.

	Blade Shooter COST: $750 UNLOCK: Default
	Description: Switches tacks out for sharp blades that can pop up to 2 additional Bloons. Effect: Instead of tacks, shoots sharp blades that pop up to 4 bloons instead of 2. Blades have larger hitboxes. Attacks slightly faster.

	Blade Maelstrom COST: $3,000 UNLOCK: Default
	Description: Activated Ability: Covers the area in a storm of blades. Effect: For 3 seconds, the ability distributes two waves of blades in a clockwise direction (anticlockwise if 0-4-1).

	Super Maelstrom COST: $15,000 UNLOCK: 1,500 (T5 unlocks)
	Description: Even more powerful Maelstrom ability and lasts longer. Effect: For 9 seconds, the ability distributes four waves of higher damage blades in a clockwise direction (anticlockwise if 0-5-1). Can pop Frozen and Lead.

Path 3

	More Tacks COST: $100 UNLOCK: Default
	Description: Shoots 10 tacks instead of 8, plus increases Ring of Fire damage. Effect: Shoots 10 tacks per shot instead of 8. Rings of Fire gain +1 damage instead of more tacks. Also more Inferno Ring meteor damage. Reverses direction of Maelstrom to anticlockwise.

	Even More Tacks COST: $100 UNLOCK: Default
	Description: Shoots out 12 tacks per shot and increases Ring of Fire damage further. Effect: Shoots 12 tacks per shot instead of 10. Rings of Fire gain a further +1 damage instead of more tacks. Also even more Inferno Ring meteor damage.

	Tack Sprayer COST: $450 UNLOCK: Default
	Description: Sprays out 16 tacks per volley. Effect: Shoots 16 tacks per shot and attacks +33% faster (0.75x attack cooldown)

	Overdrive COST: $3,400 UNLOCK: Default
	Description: Shoots incredibly fast. Effect: 3x speed and +1 pierce.

	The Tack Zone COST: $24,000 UNLOCK: 1,500 (T5 unlocks)
	Description: Many, many tacks. Effect: Shoots 32 tacks per shot +33% faster (0.75x attack cooldown). Gains +7 range, deals 2 damage per shot, and has 4 pierce. 0-2-5 increases pierce further to 10 and range to 50.

Total Costs

		Tier 1	Tier 2	Tier 3	Tier 4	Tier 5
Path 1
	Base Cost	150	400	600	3,500	45,500
	Cumulative Cost	430	830	1,430	4,930	50,430
	Base Sell	105	280	420	2,450	31,850
	Cumulative Sell	301	581	1,001	3,451	35,301
Path 2
	Base Cost	100	225	600	2,900	15,000
	Cumulative Cost	380	605	1,205	4,105	19,105
	Base Sell	70	158	420	2,030	10,500
	Cumulative Sell	266	424	844	2,874	13,374
Path 3
	Base Cost	100	100	450	3,200	24,000
	Cumulative Cost	380	480	930	4,130	28,130
	Base Sell	70	70	315	2,240	16,800
	Cumulative Sell	266	336	651	2,891	19,691

Strategy

Summary

The Tack Shooter is a cheap, short-ranged, tower that is best used on sharp curves or tight corners. It excels as a simple early-game carry when placed correctly, and has some powerful mid-game options. However, its short range makes it unwieldy on maps without good corners.

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 non-MOAB class rush and can help clean up the insides of large MOAB rushes. 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.

Tips

• Start with a base Tack and utilize some of its early-tier upgrades to get through early-game before a T3 upgrade. Blade Shooter is the smoothest T3 to lead towards while comfortably breezing through early-game.

Further Strategies

• Strategies
  • General Strategy
  • Optimization Strategy
  • Countermeasures Strategy

Monkey Mastery

Monkey Mastery is unlocked once all of its upgrades are unlocked. Monkey Mastery gives customization which is purchased using XP and Monkey Money. Has a total of 9 customizations available.

Item	Type	Description	Cost	Notes
Spinning Up	Placement Animation	Tacks locked and loaded.	600 75,000	Tack Shooter opens its turrets immediately after the barrel base lands on the ground. Sparkles spew out as each turret opens up.
Grinding Blades	Emote	Watch your fingers!	160 20,000	Two sawblades grinding eachother.
Unlucky Bloon	Bloon Decal	Surely it would have popped?	200 30,000	Sawblade is pierced through Bloons.
Brass Tacks	Weapon Skin	No frills bloon popping.	450 60,000	Tacks are made out of brass. Does not affect Hot Shot and Blade Shooter or their upgrades.
Maelstrom of Blades	Avatar Icon	Razor sharp carnage.	300 40,000	An icon of Blade Maelstrom.
Operator Monkey	Idle Animation	Who did you think loaded all those tacks?	450 60,000	Operator monkey briefly pops out of hatch then hides away. For Ring of Fire and Inferno Ring, the operator monkey will stretch out one of his arms and make a gesture.
Named Tack Shooters	Custom Names	Name your Tack Shooters!	300 40,000	Default name is Kenny.
Blast Off	Sell Animation	I must go. My planet needs me.	240 30,000	Tack Shooter spins and flies up.
Steam Trails	Trail Effect	Propulsion from a bygone era.	450 60,000	Steam appears when shooting. Does not apply to Ring of Fire and Inferno Ring.

Version History

Balance Changes

Overall, the Tack shooter is much more popular compared to it’s Battles 1 counterpart. It is greatly assisted by now having a path dedicated to high single target damage, making it far more versatile. It’s unparalleled early game has made it a popular choice for greeding, and Blade Maelstorm still has the same utility of bailing you out of most rushes. Tack can be used in many ways, with one of the most popular strats in the game, Tack-Wizard-Farm, being hyper aggressive and dedicated to finishing your opponent early on, while Tack-Ice-Village is the opposite, dedicated to taking the game late and outlasting your opponent. Gwen is most commonly used with them since her buffs are amplified by Tack’s multitude of projectiles, though Ezili can also be used to help with Tack’s weakness with ZOMGs.

Initial release (compared to BTD6 Version 28.0)

• Even Faster Shooting costs more ($300 → $350)
• Blade Shooter costs more ($550 → $600)
• The Tack Zone costs more ($20,000 → $24,000)
• The Tack Zone now pops Frozen and Lead
• [bug] Even More Tacks now gives +1 pierce to all attacks. Also includes Tack Sprayer and all its subsequent upgrades.

1.0.4

• Even Faster Shooting costs more ($350 → $400)
• Blade Maelstrom costs more ($2,700 → $2,900)
• The Tack Zone damage type changed to snarp (from normal)
• (bug fix) Bottom path tacks no longer have +1 additional pierce.

1.0.6

• 5-2-0 Inferno Ring meteor pierce increased (1 → 2)
• 5-0-2 Inferno Ring meteor damage increased (700 → 1000)

1.3.0

• Ring of Fire attack cooldown decreased (0.53s → 0.47s)

1.5.0

• Blade Maelstrom ability cannot pass through blockers
• Super Maelstrom ability cannot pass through blockers

1.7

• Ring of Fire price decreased ($3,500 → $3,300).
• Inferno Ring base damage increased (4 → 8).
• Inferno Ring bonus MOAB damage reduced (6 → 4).

1.9

• Inferno Ring: meteor cooldown (7s → 4s).

1.10.3

• Blade Shooter price increased ($600 → $700).
• Blade Maelstrom price reduced ($3,100 → $3,000).

2.0.4

• 4-0-x Ring Of Fire: pierce 60 → 45.
• 4-2-0 Ring of Fire: pierce 80 → 60.
• Overdrive price increased $3,200 → $3,400.
• [Bugfix] Inferno Ring now gains +8 damage to ceramics and MOABs.

2.2

• Blade Maelstrom: crosspathing with x-x-1 now changes the ability rotation direction to counter-clockwise
• Inferno Ring:
  • 5-1-0 meteor has 1 → 2 pierce
  • 5-2-0 meteor has 2 → 3 pierce
  • 5-0-1 meteor deals 700 → 1000 damage
  • 5-0-2 meteor deals 1000 → 1400 damage.

“	This Blade Maelstrom change was made to add greater versatility and limit any side advantages. Despite Tack being an incredibly popular tower, Inferno Ring still feels lacking in damage, therefore we have upped its Meteor damage and pierce values when crosspathed.	”
	~ Ninja Kiwi

3.1

• Blade Shooter price increased ($700 → $750)
• Inferno Ring: regular attack deals +4 → +7 to MOAB class. Meteor creates an Aoe with 50 → 150 damage and 50 → 150 DoT.

“	Tack Shooter has consistently remained one of if not the best starting tower, due to its incredibly efficient Blade Shooter upgrade. This strong point is the main appeal of Tack Shooter and we don’t want to take that away from it, however we have decided to tone it down very slightly so that it doesn’t stand out quite so much when compared to other early-game options. Inferno Ring has gotten another buff to slightly strengthen Tack Shooter’s late game effectiveness.	”
	~ Ninja Kiwi

3.2

• Inferno Ring: ring of fire damage 8 → 11

“	Despite receiving a few major buffs in the past, Inferno Ring still doesn't see much action and so we’re giving it another damage increase, this time to its ring in order to improve its grouped popping power.	”
	~ Ninja Kiwi

3.3.2

• Blade Shooter: attack cooldown reduction is reduced from 0.85x → 0.88x, base attack cooldown 1.19s → 1.232s
• Inferno Ring: bonus damage to MOAB-class bloons increased from +7 to +11 damage (total MOAB-class damage 18 → 22)

“	The smallest of nerfs for Blade Shooter - an upgrade that has persistently remained an exceptionally efficient early game tower. We’ve also given Inferno Ring another much needed damage buff so that it can better deal with the ramped up MOAB class bloons in the late game.	”
	~ Ninja Kiwi

4.1

• Inferno Ring: meteor damage increased
  • 5-x-0: 700 → 900
  • 5-0-1: 1000 → 1300
  • 5-0-2: 1400 → 1800

“	Inferno Ring is still in need of a buff, rarely seeing any use.	”
	~ Ninja Kiwi

4.2

• Inferno Ring's meteor targeting can now be selected (previously it was always set on strong)

“	A small quality of life change to offer added flexibility. It’ll default to ‘strong’ since that is what it targeted previously.	”
	~ Ninja Kiwi

4.3.1 OTA Update 1

• Hot Shots: $600 → $700
• Ring of Fire: $3,300 → $3,500

“	The top path tack shooter is highly effective at defending everything below MOAB class. We are nerfing its cost slightly to make such a strong defence a bit more of an investment.	”
	~ Ninja Kiwi

Bug Fixes and General Changes

1.0.2

• TBA

Gallery

Opened Tack Shooters, revealing monkeys operating them

Official Artwork

Tower portrait

Trivia

• The Tack Shooter is operated by a monkey, and has been made canon in this game with an unlockable Monkey Mastery upgrade for the Tack Shooter, more specifically an idle animation that occasionally pops up the monkey. The source of this is likely inspired by the Tack Monkey Avatar from BTD6.