Tack Shooter (BTDB2)/Strategies/General

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This page is a general guide for Tack Shooter. For more advanced guides, see Tack Shooter (BTDB2)/Strategies/Optimization

Tack Shooter

The Tack Shooter has low range but produces multiple tacks outwards from its center, creating area damage. Tacks work especially well on maps that maximize radial track area, particularly sharp corners or bends. Multiple of these Tack Shooters can form a powerful army, and synergize very well with buffs such as Gwendolin and Alch buffs. The biggest strength of Tack is its early-game cost-efficiency as well as its decent mid-game and late-game power. It will need support to handle Camo Bloons, but it does have limited lead-popping options on its own.

The aim of this article is a general guide for using the Tack Shooter. It summarizes how to effectively use Tack Shooter without going into too much intricate detail about meta strategy.

Base Tower

• Cost: $280
• Unlock: Default

Base Tack Shooter shoots 8 tacks per shot. It attacks somewhat slowly. Multiple of these base Tacks are able to handle weaker bloons adequately. Tack Shooters like this work best on maps with lots of corners, such as In the Wall. Tack Shooters cannot rotate themselves, so find sharp corners or bends the bloons congregate towards to make the most of the tacks.

Upgrades

Faster Shooting

• Cost: $150
• Path: 1
• Tier: 1
• Unlock: Default

Faster Shooting increases attack speed of the Tack Shooter by a fair bit. It is a fair attack speed bonus for a small cost, enough to make a solid difference for a Tack Shooter, especially those with Tier 3 and up where this attack speed bonus will be especially noticeable.

Even Faster Shooting

• Cost: $400
• Path: 1
• Tier: 2
• Unlock: Default

Even Faster Shooting further increases attack speed of the Tack Shooter by a large amount but is very expensive. Generally, it is better to reserve this upgrade for an already existing Tier 3 upgrade or if going for Hot Shots.

Hot Shots

• Cost: $600
• Path: 1
• Tier: 3
• Unlock: 2,400 XP

Hot Shots deals 2 damage per tack and pops Frozen and Lead. This helps chip away at stronger spaced bloons, although still quite weak against grouped bloons. In addition, these tacks are hot enough to melt through Frozen and Lead, making Leads less of a hassle and synergizes well with Ice Monkeys without needing to rely on other towers to do the frozen penetration, such as from Gwen's Heat It Up.

Ring of Fire

• Cost: $3,300
• Path: 1
• Tier: 4
• Unlock: 9,500 XP

Instead of tacks, Ring of Fire produces rings of fire that pop lots of bloons and deal 3 damage each. This makes it more powerful against groups of regular bloons at the cost of not being able to pop Purples without support as well as a worse synergy with buffing sources.

Inferno Ring

• Cost: $45,500
• Path: 1
• Tier: 5
• Unlock: 16,250 XP

Inferno Ring produces an infernal ring that does considerably large damage to MOAB-class and Ceramics. It can shoot flaming hot meteors at the strongest bloons, making them devastating against single-target MOAB-class bloons. That being said, it is an expensive option that could be used for handling large groups of weaker blimps and bloons, though not quite enough against Fortified DDTs.

Long Range Tacks

• Cost: $100
• Path: 2
• Tier: 1
• Unlock: Default

Long Range Tacks grants more range. However, this is normally a waste of money, given that Tack is fixed on one spot and its tacks don't even benefit much off the extra range, and the bonus range is too small to be worth going for.

Super Range Tacks

• Cost: $225
• Path: 2
• Tier: 2
• Unlock: Default

Super Range Tacks increases range further and grants +1 pierce for all tacks from this Tack Shooter. It is mainly the bonus pierce that makes this upgrade actually worthwhile; while the extra range is nice to have, the extra pierce makes a noticeable difference to the Tack Shooter's overall popping power.

Blade Shooter

• Cost: $750
• Path: 2
• Tier: 3
• Unlock: 2,300 XP

Blade Shooter has high grouped popping power by switching out tacks for blades. These blades also have larger area, which reaches bloons out slightly further and more easily hits bloons. It is efficient against early grouped sends, particularly with crosspaths, though the 2-3-0 crosspath offers enough strength to shred spaced bloons too.

Blade Maelstrom

• Cost: $3,000
• Path: 2
• Tier: 4
• Unlock: 9,000 XP

Blade Maelstrom's ability consists of waves of twin rotating blades with extremely high pierce. It is mainly used for bailing out against a dense bloon rush, or just to clean up Ceramic children underneath MOAB-class bloons. Bear in mind that this ability neither pops Frozen nor Leads, and requires support against those types. Crosspathing also plays no role in optimizing the ability, as the ability is unaffected by crosspaths. There is no initial cooldown for this ability, like most abilities, making it viable to sell-and-rebuy the ability over and over again whenever necessary.

Super Maelstrom

• Cost: $15,000
• Path: 2
• Tier: 5
• Unlock: 14,000 XP

Super Maelstrom improves the ability by doubling the numbers of blades per second, gaining +1 damage per blade, and greatly increasing duration of the ability. It also pops Frozen and Lead, making it vicious against many types of rushes, including visible DDTs. Crosspathing also plays no role in optimizing the ability, as the ability is unaffected by crosspaths. Like Blade Maelstrom, Super Maelstrom has no initial cooldown, allowing for that ability to be used as many times as is necessary.

More Tacks

• Cost: $100
• Path: 3
• Tier: 1
• Unlock: Default

More Tacks increases the number of projectiles per shot from 8 to 10. For Rings of Fire and Inferno Ring, they gain +1 damage. More Tacks makes these projectiles more densely packed for a very low cost, though the formation of these tacks will no longer align perfectly horizontally or vertically.

Even More Tacks

• Cost: $100
• Path: 3
• Tier: 2
• Unlock: Default

Even More Tacks increases the number of projectiles per shot from 10 to 12. For Rings of Fire and Inferno Ring, they gain another +1 damage, for a total of +2 damage. Even More Tacks makes these projectiles more densely packed for a very low cost, though the formation of these tacks will change to form the arrangement of an analogue clock's hour numbers.

Tack Sprayer

• Cost: $450
• Path: 3
• Tier: 3
• Unlock: 2,450 XP

Tack Sprayer increases tack count per shot to 16 and attacks slightly faster. This makes the Tack Sprayer ideal choice for handling spaced bloons including MOAB-class bloons. While the cheapest of the three Tier 3 Tacks, the power of Tack Sprayer depends a lot on crosspaths and external benefits.

Overdrive

• Cost: $3,400
• Path: 3
• Tier: 4
• Unlock: 8,750 XP

Overdrive increases attack speed greatly, shooting 16 tacks per shot at very quick speeds, as well as gaining +1 pierce. These stat changes make Overdrive a MOAB-class damage specialist, as well as increase reliability against normal bloons. Like Tack Sprayer, Overdrive depends greatly on crosspaths and external benefits to maximize its quick attack speed and high projectile count.

The Tack Zone

• Cost: $24,000
• Path: 3
• Tier: 5
• Unlock: 13,250 XP

The Tack Zone shoots 32 tacks per shot, gains greater attack speed, deals more damage, gains more pierce, and receives slightly more range. It is a shredding powerhouse against MOAB-class bloons, particularly attributed to its higher attack speed and multitude of tacks hitting the large hitboxes of blimps. The Tack Zone depends even more on external benefits and crosspaths to maximize its true power.

General Strategy

All towers including Tack Shooter start off with upgrades up to Tier 2. All upgrades are unlocked with Tower XP of the respective tower's type, and can be unlocked in any order provided that previous tiers on the same path are unlocked first. In order to suit the tower's varied specialties, some upgrades are better unlocked first before others. Below is a brief guide to unlocking Tack upgrades.

Tack Shooter's first two tiers aren't very strong, though they are okay for the early-game and very doable on Red Bloon Camp. Tack has three different Tier 3 upgrades that each play different roles: Hot Shots for thinning spaced bloons and popping Frozen and Leads, Blade Shooter for reliable early grouped damage, and Tack Sprayer for reliable early spaced damage. It would be preferable to have an advantage against grouped bloons than the other aforementioned, especially for the Round 11 or Round 12 Purple and camo Purple rush respectively, so hence Blade Shooter should be the first. Tack Sprayer is generally more reliable against MOAB-class than Hot Shots for similar price, and Hot Shots could be substituted with Bomb until that upgrade is unlocked, so Hot Shots should be last.

For Tier 4 upgrades, each Tack upgrade has specific roles. Blade Maelstrom performs the best at demolishing rushes, particularly bailing out against regular bloon rushes. However, Overdrive does hefty but quite reliable MOAB-class DPS. Maelstrom is more practical, so hence should be unlocked first. Ring of Fire is considered the weakest option here, as it has a Purple weakness and is not as cost-effective at demolishing regular bloons in a practical setting as a properly microed Maelstrom.

Tier 5 options are easy to pick for Tack Shooter. In most practical cases, either Super Maelstrom or The Tack Zone would be the best Tier 5 upgrades to begin getting for Tack. The Tack Zone provides a significant but reliable MOAB-class damage, while Super Maelstrom is viable as a last ditch for wiping out a troublesome rush. Inferno Ring is incredibly expensive and is not very powerful for its cost.

Overall, a recommended upgrade order could go something like this:

1. Blade Shooter
2. Tack Sprayer
3. Blade Maelstrom
4. Hot Shots
5. Overdrive
6. Ring of Fire
7. The Tack Zone
8. Super Maelstorm
9. Inferno Ring