Velociraptor

Velociraptor
General Information
Game	Bloons TD 6
Tower	Beast Handler
Unlocked at	1,000 XP
Cost	$1,755 (Easy) $2,065 (Medium) $2,230 (Hard) $2,480 (Impoppable)
Targeting Options	First, Last, Close, Strong Beasts Targeting Merge
Camo Detection	Restricted (upgradable to 0/3/2)
Other Names	V Raptor Vraptor Velo
Popology
Statistics
Damage	9 (minimum Beast Power) 27 (maximum Beast Power) +33% (stunned bloons)
Pierce	14 (minimum Beast Power) 35 (maximum Beast Power)
Attack Speed	1s (min power)
Range	24 (beast itself range) 60 (control beast range)
Status Effects	N/A
Tower Boosts	N/A
Income/Life Boosts	N/A
Path Upgrades
← Previous	Adasaurus
← Previous	Adasaurus
Current	Velociraptor
Current	Velociraptor
Next →	Tyrannosaurus Rex
Next →	Tyrannosaurus Rex
Path Info
Path	2
Path	2
Upgrade Tier	3
Upgrade Tier	3
[Source]

“	Velociraptor viciously slashes and chomps, dealing more damage to stunned Bloons.	”
	~ In-game description

Velociraptor is the third upgrade of Path 2 for the Beast Handler in Bloons TD 6. It replaces the Adasaurus for a Velociraptor, a stronger theropod beast that deals much more damage, including extra damage to stunned bloons. As a Tier 3, maximum beast power increases from 6 to 24, and base has 8 power, additionally increasing the maximum contributing Beast Handlers for this beast from 3 to 16.

Velociraptor increases its range from 20 to 24, damage from 3 to 9, pierce from 8 to 14, chomp radius increased, and attack cooldown of 1s at base power without merges. Additionally, it deals between +25% to +33% bonus damage to stunned bloons compared to base damage, increasing proportionally to beast power, relative to its scaled base damage and minimum bonus damage to stunned bloons.

Merging increases damage at a ratio of 9 damage every 8 power, bonus stunned damage at a ratio of 3 by 16, pierce at a ratio of 21 every 16 power, all of which round down statistic values. Attack cooldown decreases linearly at a ratio of 0.3439s per 16 power. At maximum power, it deals 27 damage and 6 bonus stunned damage, has 35 pierce, and attack cooldown reduces to 0.6561s.

This upgrade costs $1,755 on Easy, $2,065 on Medium, $2,230 on Hard, and $2,480 on Impoppable.

Description

Overview

Velociraptor and its handler

When upgraded to Velociraptor, the monkey holds a dinosaur staff and wears primal clothing. His new dinosaur staff has a few red-and-yellow stripes, has a few spikes at the top, and hanging near the upper middle is an egg-like bauble. He wears red stuffed pants with a white cloth hanging over the middle of his pants. Along his head are many primal patterns in the shapes of rhombuses and triangles in alternating red and yellow colors.

Velociraptor

The Velociraptor in-game is loosely based on Velociraptor mongoliensis, but shaped more similarly to the famous velociraptors in popular media, which are based on Deinonychus. The real animal was smaller than Adasaurus, much more slender with longer hands, and would have been covered in a coat of feathers. The in-game Velociraptor's size is slightly taller than the monkey that handles it. Its body is red while retaining the shape of smaller in-game theropods. It has blue stripes and mohawk. It produces much deeper growls that resemble those from a tiger. As the Velociraptor levels up, it gains extra blue feathers. At max level, the Velociraptor gains an adornment of blue feathers on its tail and back.

Velociraptor improves on its high damage, low range expertise. It deals much more damage, gains higher pierce, and inflicts more damage to stunned bloons. It sometimes changes between kicking and biting bloons; these are purely visual.

Targeting Priorities

As an upgraded Beast Handler, the Velociraptor Handler controls a terrestrial beast. It controls a Velociraptor. The Velociraptor can be merged from weaker-tier terrestrial middle path beasts to add energy, empowering the Velociraptor via a network of other Beast Handlers. Alternatively, it can be merged into stronger-tier terrestrial beasts to transfer energy, empowering the stronger terrestrial beast in the process. This system utilises the Merge button to select a valid Beast Handler given sufficient energy capacity.

The Velociraptor has multiple styles of attack that follow basic targeting priorities.

• 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.

Additionally, the Velociraptor has a button "Place Beast" button that places the Velociraptor and repositions it anywhere within valid land place of the Beast Handler. Any contributing Beast Handlers will also grant range that allows repositioning of that beast.

Full Popology

Statistics

Updated as of Version 39.1

Base Stats

• Handler:
  • Passive type, automatically places a Velociraptor beast on valid land within 60 range. Velociraptor consumes 1 footprint and gains access to Velociraptor Bite/Kick. Can reposition the Velociraptor manually.
• Velociraptor Bite/Kick:
  • Melee "projectile", normal type, 24 range, 1s attack cooldown, 9 damage, 3 bonus stunned damage (12 total stunned damage), 14 pierce.

Crosspathing interactions

Unlike the majority of towers in BTD6, the Beast Handler does not benefit from crosspathing. Each path spawns or upgrades a beast, rather than directly affecting the other crosspaths.

Merging interactions

• Default Power: 8
• Min Power: 8
• Max Power: 24
• Bonus Stat Changes: Damage increases by 3 per 2 power, stunned bonus damage increases by 1 every 2 power, pierce increases by 4 every 3 power. At the default 8 power, starts with 9 damage, 3 stunned bonus damage, and 14 pierce.
  • Equations: Where p is power, floor() function is rounding down, and ceil() function is rounding up:
    • Bite/Kick:
      • Damage: 9 + floor((p - 8)/(24 - 8) * (27 - 9))
      • Bonus Stunned Damage: 3 + (9 + floor((p - 8)/(24 - 8) * (27 - 9)) - 9)/3
      • Pierce: floor(([p-8]/16) * 21 + 14)
      • Attack cooldown: 1 - 0.3439*(p-8)/16
  • Default Power (8, bite/kick): 9 damage (3 bonus stunned damage), 14 pierce, 0.9s attack cooldown.
  • Max Power (24, bite/kick): Damage increased to 27 (11 bonus stunned damage), pierce increased to 35. Attack cooldown decreases to 0.6561s.

Benefits from Beast Power

Beast Power	Pierce	Damage	Attack Cooldown	Other
8	14	9 (+3 stunned)	1.0s	N/A
9	15	10 (+3 stunned)	0.9785s	N/A
10	16	11 (+3 stunned)	0.957s	N/A
11	17	12 (+4 stunned)	0.9355s	N/A
12	19	13 (+4 stunned)	0.914s	N/A
13	20	14 (+4 stunned)	0.8925s	N/A
14	21	15 (+5 stunned)	0.871s	N/A
15	23	16 (+5 stunned)	0.8495s	N/A
16	24	18 (+6 stunned)	0.828s	N/A
17	25	19 (+6 stunned)	0.8066s	N/A
18	27	20 (+6 stunned)	0.7851s	N/A
19	28	21 (+7 stunned)	0.7636s	N/A
20	29	22 (+7 stunned)	0.7421s	N/A
21	31	23 (+7 stunned)	0.7206s	N/A
22	32	24 (+8 stunned)	0.6991s	N/A
23	33	25 (+8 stunned)	0.6776s	N/A
24	35	27 (+9 stunned)	0.6561s	N/A

Attack Interactions

See also: Attack Interactions/Bloons TD 6/Support

Updated as of Version 42.2

• Bite/Kick:
  • Normal
  • Melee
  • Extra Damage (9)
  • Extra Damage to Stunned (+25%)

Costs

Note: This section does not take into account Beast Handler merges.

Updated as of Version 51.0. 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-3-X)	$1,755	$2,065	$2,230	$2,480	-
Total (0-3-0)	$2,820	$3,320	$3,585	$3,985	$1,974	$2,324	$2,510	$2,790
Crosspath (1-3-0)	$2,955	$3,480	$3,755	$4,175	$2,069	$2,436	$2,629	$2,923
Crosspath (2-3-0)	$3,645	$4,290	$4,630	$5,145	$2,552	$3,003	$3,241	$3,602
Crosspath (0-3-1)	$2,980	$3,510	$3,790	$4,215	$2,086	$2,457	$2,653	$2,951
Crosspath (0-3-2)	$3,710	$4,370	$4,720	$5,245	$2,597	$3,059	$3,304	$3,672

This upgrade's prices (or included crosspath's prices) are affected by the following MK: Better Sell Deals

Strategy

Summary

Velociraptor inflicts high amount of damage within a low range, making it ideal for getting rid of stronger Bloons along corners and bends. It gains high synergy with towers that stun Bloons, allowing it to inflict more damage to them. With sufficient merging, the Velociraptor can one-shot standard health Ceramics and inflict decent MOAB damage. Multiple weaker Velociraptors are generally superior for single-target damage and optimizing stunned bonuses to individual groups, while fewer, stronger Velociraptors excel in the mid-game by minimizing layer-skipping issues and excelling against grouped rounds in general. In general, Velociraptor's mid-game strengths depend a lot from hitting stronger bloon types and micromanaging positions to counter its low base range.

Compared to its Tier 2, Adasaurus, the Velociraptor's much greater damage allows it to excel in the mid-game, one-shotting Rainbows and doing hefty damage to Ceramics and MOABs. In terms of benefits from Beast Power, Velociraptor appreciates the bonus damage so that it will only need fewer shots to destroy bloons, in addition to the bonus pierce; the extra damage and pierce help minimize layer-skipping issues versus high-density Ceramic rounds such as Round 63.

Tips

• Like all Beast Handlers, merging with tier threes is most optimal for power. However, if running multiple path beasts, going tier 1s on two paths is far more efficient.
• A 16-power Velociraptor (or 13-power if the bloon is stunned) deals enough damage to one-shot normal Ceramics (18), therefore not needing to deal with innards of these bloon types. The 8 energy can be obtained efficiently by using another Velociraptor, or two Adasauruses and two Microraptors. The Velociraptor will still benefit significantly from higher Beast Power to pierce more bloons per shot, more often, and boast higher MOAB damage.
• The 24/24 Velociraptor is a very strong mid-game carry, as the maximised attack speed and pierce helps improve its reliability as a cleanup tower, particularly if a defense consists primarily of imprecise damaging attacks (e.g. Armor Piercing Darts), in addition to already one-shotting normal Ceramics (which 16/24 Velociraptor does).
• A cleanup tower may be a good idea to clear out the weaker bloons while Velociraptor breaks apart the stronger bloons. With sufficient merging, particularly at 24/24 for maximum attack speed and pierce, however, Velociraptor can act as the cleanup tower.
  • Setting Velociraptor to Strong may help maximize its high damage to bloons if running extra cleanup.
• Although Velociraptor doesn't have specific synergies with crosspathing, both crosspaths have their own use cases.
  • A 2-3-0 greatly increases the Velociraptor's power during midgame. The Barracuda will knock back any bloons that could escape the velociraptor during bites, assists in with ok MOAB damage, or could be targeted to a different lane to allow the Velociraptor to defend two lanes at once, since it can hold its own. Additionally, it can provide minor assistance lategame with the knockback.
  • A 0-3-2 provides much more utility compared to a barracuda. While not very helpful for the Velociraptor itself, the owl can deal with earlygame camos, and can stall abilities later on, for example if the Velociraptor is upgraded to a T-Rex.
• Relentless Glue has good synergy with Velociraptor, as the Relentless Glue can slow down blimps and bloons, giving more time for the Velociraptor to attack them, and Velociraptor can inflict yet more damage from stunned bloons caused by recently popped bloons.
• Maim MOAB helps make use of the Velociraptor’s stunned damage to blimps, since most stuns only affect ordinary Bloons, which Velociraptor can easily pop before Super Ceramics. Similarly, it benefits greatly from Cripple MOAB for similar reasons, which mainly impacts rounds between Rounds 85-100.
• Avoid letting other towers deal too much low-amount damage, because producing swarms of many weaker bloons can clog up pierce of the Velociraptor, which is best suited for wiping out stronger layers.

Version History

Balance Changes

Velociraptor's massive damage makes it extremely powerful for dispatching mid-game rounds while still retaining late-game value. It has been nerfed to decrease its excessive damage values. However, since the reposition nerfs, the Velociraptor got a price decrease, also to smoothen up cost-efficiencies of beast power merges with higher-tier upgrades.

36.0

• Released

38.0

“	[...] The lower tiers on middle path Microraptor and Velociraptor are seeing all-round reductions as both have too high a base power and benefit too much from merges, gaining an overall greater attack speed benefit percentage-wise from merges than Trex does. [...]	”
	~ Ninja Kiwi

• Velociraptor attack cooldown scale reduced (0.3951s → 0.3105s). Max Velociraptor attack cooldown increased from to 0.5049s to 0.5895s.
• Velociraptor damage decreased, base value decreased (12 → 9) and maximum value decreased (36 → 27)
  • Velociraptor base damage reduced (12 → 9)
  • Velociraptor damage bonus from merges decreased (+24 → +18)
• Velociraptor bonus stunned damage decreased, base value unchanged (+3) and maximum value decreased (+11 → +9)

39.0

“	Velociraptor performs as one of the most exceptional early tier upgrades in the game. We’ve been going tame on this path so far as we’re happy for it to stay one of the top options, however it is too far ahead still so we are smoothing out the attack rates to match T-rex.	”
	~ Ninja Kiwi

• Velocirator attack cooldown increased. Min-power cooldown increased from 0.9s to 1s, max-power cooldown increased (0.5895s → 0.6561s)
  • Velociraptor attack delay increased (0.9s → 1s)
  • Velociraptor max attack delay reduction from merge increased (0.3105s → 0.3439s)

“	Beast Handler’s general repositioning feels far too free right now, the reposition cooldown is being increased to a more reasonably noticeable number so this feels like a meaningful cost.	”
	~ Ninja Kiwi

• Beast Handler beast reposition cooldown increased from 0.5s to 5s

40.0

“	We feel Beast Handler balance is setting down nicely overall but it feels like the reposition cooldown increasing was far more impactful and unfun than intended, we still feel the initial delay was silly but are cutting it down again a little. [...]	”
	~ Ninja Kiwi

• Beast Handler beast reposition cooldown decreased from 5s to 3s

42.0

“	When first creating Beast Handler we balanced the T1-3 upgrade costs with a goal of creating a decision point between spending free playable space to save on cash or spending more cash to save on playable space. However in practice though some people have come on board with spending their playable space as a resource for more power; actual interest is much more divided between maximizing cost efficiency of these merges or simply using different towers. Given that spam of lower tier handlers already comes with the advantage of allowing them to be repositioned over a larger area, we’re changing our approach with a full cost rebalance across most T1-3 upgrades for exactly equal cost per point of merged beast power, instead leaving the nuance around understanding higher value merges & footprint advantage to depend more on discounts.	”
	~ Ninja Kiwi

• Velociraptor price reduced from $2,600 to $2,170
  • Total price decrease is -$485 due to Adasaurus (-$55)

43.0

“	In going over our large list of price changes for Beast Handler’s lower tiers in 42 this change was received very positively, however we did not realize that in making this change we killed off all chance of dual-beast handlers being used as a round 1 starting option for under $650 in hard modes – So we gotta do that math all over again and convert it for difficulty, painful 😀 All T1 beast prices changed to allow 110 & 101 beast handler combos to be placed for under $650 in hard mode, all T2 & T3 prices shifted around to keep these same cost ratios.	”
	~ Ninja Kiwi

• Velociraptor cost reduced from $2170 to $2065
  • Total price adjustment is -$185, due to Microraptor (-$20) and Adasaurus (-$60)

“	We’re slightly reducing beast reposition cooldown as the tiny range leaves movement very tight, which is especially painful for Microraptor path given the low range.	”
	~ Ninja Kiwi

• Beast Handler reposition cooldown reduced from 3s to 2s

45.0

“	Base handler's beast range felt too high starting off when considering the tower is built around sharing range between multiple Handlers so this range is being reduced.	”
	~ Ninja Kiwi

• Velociraptor handling range decreased from 60 to 50.

47.0

“	As a quality of life improvement, Beast Handler movement cooldowns have now been separated	”
	~ Ninja Kiwi

• Fish and Dino reposition cooldowns are now independent.

Bug Fixes and General Changes

None (so far)

Extra Notes (Version History)

• Version 42.0 adjusted efficiency of 0-3-0 Velociraptor for merges due to T3 and below getting price changes. The result was actually less than a whole 0-1-0 Beast, or even a 0-2-0 Beast, both at $445 per power. Hence, the "exact" beast cost adjustments that NK claimed for Velociraptor were actually incorrect.
  • Medium: $3990 → $3505; 498.75 / 1 power → 438.125 / 1 power
• Version 43.0 adjusted efficiency of 0-4-0 Velociraptor for merges due to T3 and below getting price changes.
  • Medium: $3505 → $3320; 438.125 / 1 power → 415 / 1 power

Sounds

When upgrading to Velociraptor:

• [tiger's roar]

When relocating Velociraptor:

• [aggressive growling]
• [rumbling growl]

Gallery

Crosspathing (Top: Path 1, Bottom: Path 3)

0-3-2 Velociraptor attacking bloons

Stacking Velociraptors on the same spot

Velociraptor damaging Ceramics into Blacks and Whites (pre-38.0 footage)

Velciraptor default appearance

Maxed Velociraptor appearance (two other Velociraptor Handlers for merging)

Velociraptor stun bonus triggered on Ceramics (pre-38.0 footage)

Velociraptor facing leftwards and the Velociraptor Handler looking at that location

Velociraptor dealing 9 damage to Ceramics

Power Appearances

Front view 8/24 Velociraptor

Back view 8/24 Velociraptor

Front view ???/24 Velociraptor

Back view ???/24 Velociraptor

Front view 24/24 Velociraptor

Back view 24/24 Velociraptor

Velociraptor power increments (pre-38.0)

9/24 Velociraptor versus Ceramics, into Pinks

10/24 Velociraptor versus Ceramics, into Greens

11/24 Velociraptor versus Ceramics, into Blues

12/24 Velociraptor versus Ceramics, into nothing

12/24 Velociraptor versus Fortified Ceramics, two shots into nothing

15/24 Velociraptor versus Fortified Ceramics, one shot into Zebras

16/24 Velociraptor versus Fortified Ceramics, one shot into Blacks and Whites

17/24 Velociraptor versus Fortified Ceramics, one shot into Yellows

18/24 Velociraptor versus Fortified Ceramics, one shot into Greens

19/24 Velociraptor versus Fortified Ceramics, one shot into Reds

20/24 Velociraptor versus Fortified Ceramics, one shot into nothing

Official artwork

Upgrade portrait

Upgrade icon

Instamonkey icon

Teasers

24th March 2023 teaser on Twitter. Shown here is an Orca, Velociraptor, and Giant Condor.

Animation of the 24th March 2023 teaser

Videos

Velociraptor pierce amounts 37.3

Step-by-step Velociraptor pierce values in 37.3, one Beast Power at a time

Velociraptor damage values (37.3)

Step-by-step Velociraptor base damage values in 37.3, one Beast Power at a time

Velociraptor stunned damage values (37.3)

Step-by-step Velociraptor stunned damage values in 37.3, one Beast Power at a time

Trivia

• The upgrade portrait and icon for the Velociraptor upgrade are visible on Ninja Kiwi's Version 36.0 preview video.
• In the Version 34.0 in-game code prior to the Beast Handler's debut in Version 36.0, the Velociraptor would gain extra attack speed, fitting in with the word "velocity" that its name slightly resembles. However, this idea was ditched for extra stunned damage.
• Velociraptors in Bloons TD 6 take on the proportions and shapes of those portrayed in Jurassic Park, the only major differences being a red-and-blue color scheme instead of desaturated green. Another major difference between the Jurassic Park portrayal of velociraptors is that the Bloons TD 6 counterpart creates deep-sounding growls instead of the more iconic sounds in that franchise. In Bloons TD 6, the Velociraptor is portrayed to be slightly taller than the monkeys, noticeably larger than the lower-tier theropods, and growls mostly like a tiger.