Targeting Priority

Targeting Priority is a special option that most towers in the Bloons TD series have. It is used to indicate to the tower what bloons it should attack. It can be changed by the player at any time. To change it, the player must click or tap the tower, and then choose one of the options found in the Target Priority selector.

Target Priorities

In the Bloons TD series, there are a total of five standard Target Priorities. The priorities are:

• First
  • First makes the tower attack the Bloons that are farthest down the track in its range. This is the default choice.
• Last
  • Last makes the tower attack the Bloons that are the closest to the start of the track in the tower's range.
• Close
  • Close makes the tower attacks Bloons closest to the tower in the tower's range.
• Weak
  • Weak makes the tower attacks Bloons that are the weakest in the tower's range. Only appears in BTD4 and its expansion.
• Strong
  • Strong attacks the strongest Bloons in the tower's range.

Bloons TD 3

In Bloons TD 3, there are 2 selections for target priority. They are:

• First
• Last

Bloons TD 4

In Bloons TD 4, there are an additional 2 selections for target priority, bringing the total up to 4. They are:

• First
• Last
• Weak
• Strong

Bloons TD 5

Controls for Target Priority in BTD5

In Bloons TD 5, the Weak target priority was replaced by Close. There are also 4 different target priorities.

• First
• Last
• Strong
• Close

Special Target Priorities

Certain towers have the ability to use different and unique Target Priorities or to use Target Priorities that they didn't originally have.

Heli Pilot

The Heli Pilot has four moving systems, which are selected in the Target Priority selector.

• Follow Touch
  • Follow Touch will make the Heli Pilot move to where the player taps.
• Lock in Place
  • Lock in Place will make the Heli Pilot stop where it is when the Target Priority is selected.
• Patrol
  • Patrol will make the Heli Pilot move between two spots chosen by the player.
• Pursuit
  • Pursuit is the same as target priority First, except the Heli Pilot will follow the bloons while shooting them. It is unlocked with the purchase of the second upgrade on the first path, with the same name as the target priority.

Monkey Sub

The Monkey Sub has a special Target Priority known as Submerge. Submerge changes the tower's attack to reveal Camo Bloons in the Monkey Sub's Range. It is unlocked with the third path one upgrade, Submerge and Support. If it has the Bloontonium Reactor upgrade, it will reveal Camo bloons, pop bloons, and reduce water tower cooldowns by 15%.

Monkey Ace

Instead of having a targeting system akin to other towers, the Monkey Ace shoots volleys of darts arbitrary to targeting. In its place, the Monkey Ace can change its path of travel around its runway.

• 8 Path - Causes the Monkey Ace to fly in two small circles, one above and below the runway to form a figure eight pattern.
• ∞ Path - Causes the Monkey Ace to fly in two small circles, one to the left and right of the runway to form an infinity symbol.
• O Path - Causes the Monkey Ace to fly in one large, clockwise single circle around the runway.

Bloons TD 6

Similar to Bloons TD 5,Bloons TD 6 retains the 4 different target priorities found in the prior installment.

• First
• Last
• Close
• Strong

Special Target Priorities

With the introduction of new upgrades, new targeting priorities are present that are unique from the typical format.

Heli Pilot

The Heli Pilot keeps all the prior targeting systems as Bloons TD 5 with several tweaks. Patrol can now be tapped to re-allocate the points where the Heli Pilot without having to swap between another targeting system and back again. Lock in Place now locks where the Heli Pilot is rather than presenting a targeting prompt to tell where the Heli Pilot is to be situated.

• Follow Touch
  • Follow Touch will make the Heli Pilot move to where the player taps.
• Lock in Place
  • Lock in Place will make the Heli Pilot stop where it is when the Target Priority is selected.
• Patrol
  • Patrol will make the Heli Pilot move between two spots chosen by the player.
• Pursuit
  • Pursuit is the same as target priority First, except the Heli Pilot will follow in front of the bloons while shooting them. It is unlocked with the purchase of the second upgrade on the first path, with the same name as the target priority. Once upgraded to the respective upgrade, it automatically switches to this target priority.

Tack Shooter

The Inferno Ring upgrade unlocks a new attack that allows Inferno Fireballs to be shot at the strongest bloon on screen, but despite this new attack the main Tack Shooter is still locked on Close.

Ice Monkey

After purchasing the Cryo Cannon, the Ice Monkey gains target priorities like any other tower. Before Cryo Cannon is bought, the Ice Monkey is locked on Close.

Monkey Sub

The Monkey Sub retains the special Target Submerge, changing the tower's attack to reveal Camo Bloons in the Monkey Sub's Range. Now this ability is also tied into the Energizer upgrade, still popping bloons as well as increasing Hero XP gains by 50%, halving water tower cooldowns rather than 15%, and a 20% global cooldown to all other abilities.

Monkey Ace

The Monkey Ace has the same movement as the prior entry, with a change to their names as well as a new flight path. Each path also has lights that appear when the Monkey Ace is selected akin to typical Range, allowing for the path to be visualized.

• Circle - Causes the Monkey Ace to fly in one large, clockwise single circle around the runway.
• Figure Eight - Causes the Monkey Ace to fly in two small circles, one above and below the runway to form a figure eight pattern.
• Figure Infinite - Causes the Monkey Ace to fly in two small circles, one to the left and right of the runway to form an infinity symbol.
• Centered Path - A path method only available after the Centered Path upgrade is purchased for that Monkey Ace, causes the Monkey Ace to fly in a large, clockwise circle around the entire map, ignoring the runway. Purchasing the upgrade will automatically set the Monkey Ace to this target priority.

Sniper Monkey

The Sniper Monkey can gain a special Target Priority known as Elite. Introduced in BTD6, Elite shifts the priority of Snipers to follow an unorthodox target list, seemingly homoginizing the more popular Sniper targeting priorities and using their best aspects to limit the issue of non-MOAB-Class bloons. Snipers with Elite target Ceramics if present, then follows typical Strong targeting priority behaviour. If Bloons are approaching the end of the track, they are prioritized above all else, akin to First. It is unlocked with the final Path 2 upgrade, Elite Sniper, allowing the Sniper himself along all other Snipers on the screen access to the priority.

Spike Factory

New to Bloons TD 6, the Spike Factory gains four unique targeting priorities once the Smart Spikes (formerly named "Directed Spikes" before Version 14.0) upgrade has been purchased. Unlike other target priority upgrades, Smart Spikes does not automatically change target priority of the Spike Factory, and instead it defaults to "Normal".

• Normal - Causes the Spike Factory to fire onto the track sporadically, serving as the default mode for all other Spike Factories without the upgrade.
• Close - Unlike the priority of the same name for other non-special target priority towers, this causes the Spike Factory to fire off spikes to the closest area from itself to the track.
• Far - Causes the Spike Factory to fire onto any portion of the track that is on the fringes of its range.
• Smart - Causes the Spike Factory to fire in a "smart" fashion, firing as early on into the track within its range. If bloons have already passed that portion of the track, the Spike Factory can begin piling spikes onto a part of the track further down the bloon's path if that segment is also in its range. If all bloons have passed all of the Spike Factory's possible areas of smart piling, it will default to its first area of smart piling in preparation for any more bloons.

Towers without Target Priorities

Certain towers do not have Target Priorities through the series, with some exceptions and instances where they gain priorities in sequels.

• Tack Shooter
• Ice Tower
  • In Bloons TD 6, Cryo Cannon, Icicles and Icicle Impale causes the Ice Monkey to gain the standard targeting priorities, defaulting to Close when initially upgraded.
• Mortar Tower
  • In Bloons TD 5 Mobile, Tier 4 Mortar Emplacement allows the Mortar Tower to use the standard Target Priorities, rather than just having to set where it shoots.
• Banana Farm
• Monkey Village
  • When the Monkey Village is upgraded to High Energy Beacon or Primary Expertise, Target Priorities become available.
• Dartling Gun
  • The Tier 3 Dartling Ammo Dump allows the Dartling Gun to fire toward a fixed position.
  • In this case, their two settings would be "Mouse" and "Fixed".
• Spike Factory
  • In Bloons TD 6, Directed Spikes provides Special Targeting Priorities once purchased.