| “ | Vortex moves like lightning and speeds other Bloons along!
When each health bar skull is reached, Vortex shields himself and sends out a shockwave that stuns nearby Towers before retreating up the track. |
” |
| ~ BTD6 Description |
Vortex: Deadly Master of Air is a Boss Bloon added to Bloons TD 6 in the 31.0 update. It is the third Boss Bloon to be introduced to Bloons TD 6, and the second one returning from the Bloons TD 5 Generation. Vortex is a sky-dwelling MOAB-class bloon that increases the speed of all Bloons behind it by 2.5x. In addition, every time a certain amount of damage is dealt, Vortex will be knocked back along the track, releasing a large pulse which stuns nearby towers. It also puts up a shield for 6 seconds which deflects all outside projectiles that have low velocity.
Quick Answers
What abilities does Vortex: Deadly Master of Air possess in BTD6?
What is the impact of Vortex on other Bloons in Bloons TD 6?
What are some effective strategies to defeat Vortex in BTD6?
How does Vortex's shield function in BTD6?
What makes Vortex: Deadly Master of Air unique compared to other Boss Bloons in BTD6?
Visual Description[]
Vortex with a wind deflection shield.
In normal mode, Vortex appears as a large, aqua colored blimp with an elongated, oval-shaped hull. A series of dark fins run across its aft, centering on a single large propeller at the rear. It has 5 eyes scattered around its forehead (9 in later tiers) with a black band encircling its hull and a black nose/tail. Later tiers of Vortex will gain a localized thunderstorm that swirls beneath it as it moves, with the final tier also becoming wreathed in electricity.
Vortex spawns near the beginning of the track marked by 4 yellow electrifying crystals, descending onto the track with a shower of lightning bolts. When defeated, it will explode into a violent burst of electricity.
Vortex's presence is signified by storm clouds and leaves swirling around the map, with flashes of lightning periodically becoming visible in the storm.
Elite[]
Elite Vortex starts similar to its normal T5 appearance, with differences being darker hull colors. The later tiers its side fins get elongated each with jet turbine, yellow eyes with vertical narrow pupil, additional fins near its eyes, second set of fins under the turbines, at Tier 5 it gains 2 orbs of lightning orbiting it.
Playing Vortex[]
Vortex's spawning location
Vortex spawns in an electrifying region of the map marked by four yellow crystals, around 1/50 of the track length into the track. Since Vortex has no minions, Vortex instead buffs existing bloons on screen. There is a HUD for how many rounds left until Vortex comes. Once ready, Vortex will descend to the map and start its tedious journey to the end of the map. Upon death, the Boss Bloon gives off a large yellow electrifying explosion.
Vortex will always spawn marked location by a cluster of 4 yellow lighting crystals with some lighting. Where there are multiple simultaneous lanes on a map (e.g. Encrypted, Sunken Columns, X Factor), Vortex chooses the first available path. For maps with alternating lanes (e.g. Bazaar, Chutes, X Factor), Vortex will still take the first available path instead of the round's corresponding first lane. If there is a blimp-only lane available (e.g. Quiet Street, Cargo, Workshop), Vortex will guarantee to spawn from that lane. On the map Bloonarius Prime, Vortex will take a special path that integrates both lanes. In Balance map, Vortex takes different path in each tier and has the cycle of path taken by 4 tiers. (e.g. The tier 5 of both normal and elite ones will choose the same path as the tier 1 does.)
Boss Events and Boss Challenge[]
Vortex's description
Vortex can be found in Boss Bloon Events and Boss Challenge, which requires a minimum of Rank 20 (which accesses events).
If Vortex is the boss selected as the Boss Bloon Event for that week, then from Saturday 8:00 PM NZT to the next Thursday 4:00 PM NZT, the Boss Bloon icon will appear on the main menu screen. Click the button to access the Boss Event page. At first the Normal Vortex will be unlocked. Defeating all five tiers of Normal Vortex will unlock the Elite Version. Check the ranked mode option in the bottom right corner to compete against other players.
Boss Rush[]
Vortex does not have a Boss Rush counterpart; but will likely in the future.
Rogue Legends[]
- Main article: Rogue Legends
Vortex is available only as the Final Boss of each stage of Rogue Legends. The Final Boss is the ultimate challenge of each stage, and must be beaten to succeed to the next stage.
During the Final Boss, the player must beat an Elite version of this Boss with a large starting cash boost and at a higher Boss tier. There are a limited number of rounds until this Boss is beaten. Upon winning, the player gets the choice of an Essence of Vortex or any of three Tier 5 Monkeys provided as a special reward. If this aforementioned Boss Artifact is already collected, a random Legendary Artifact will be available instead.
Vortex may become a candidate for Mini Boss if Vortex is incorporated into Boss Rush in the future.
Properties[]
Special Properties[]
Bloons being affected by Vortex's speed buff on multiple lanes. In this case the pink bloons have the buff past Vortex due to coming from another lane.
On a round where Vortex is active, all naturally spawned Bloons will have their speed increased by 150% (i.e. 2.5x speed), visually represented by them being surrounded by gusts of wind. This massive speed boost will disappear when the accelerated Bloons reach Vortex's current position, upon which they'll start to move at normal speed again. However, natural bloons that are not on the same lane as Vortex will persistently move at accelerated speeds no matter where Vortex is; this occurs on maps with multiple lanes (e.g. Quiet Street and Spring Spring). Note that if Vortex is defeated and the round is still going, all remaining Bloons in the round will still gain the speed buff until they reach the position where Vortex was defeated.
Every 5 seconds as well as when Skull Health is reached, Vortex releases a burst of wind that clears all projectiles and track hazards within a radius of 60, with some exceptions and inclusions. Projectiles that can be removed does include collectables, such as Banana Farm bananas. However, projectiles from all Powers and Heroes do not. All attacks that stick on Vortex, such as Sticky Bomb, still deal damage. Explosions bursted from spike pile attacks such as Spiked Mines or Super Mines also deal damage instead of just clearing.
Every time Vortex reaches skull health, it will be knocked back a distance of 100 units and generate a large blast of lightning that stuns all towers (including Heroes and non-attacking towers like Banana Farms) in a radius of 60, +5 stunning radius per tier (up to 80 units at Tier 5), for a short time. Paragons can also be stunned. Stunned towers cannot attack, generate income, be sold, are unable to use or recharge activated abilities, and may also lose many passive abilities that have an "active" component (like the orbiting glaives of Glaive Lord). However, true 
passive effects such as buffs remain unaffected. If a tower is stunned, most additional Sub-Towers created by the tower will also not be able to act. Stunning Geraldo will not disable his shop.
Whenever reaching its skull thresholds, Vortex will also generate a storm shield that persists for 6 seconds. While the shield is active, most projectiles that come into contact with it will be harmlessly deflected, dealing no damage. The shield cannot deflect projectiles that have a high enough velocity (notably instant, hitscan, or some lobbed attacks; examples include all Sniper Monkey bullets, Heart of Thunder's lightning, Plasma Accelerator's beams, all Mortar Monkey shells, and Ballistic Missile's missiles), nor can it deflect projectiles that originate from inside the shield. The shield has 80 radius.
Vortex is noticeably faster than all of the other Boss Bloons. Like Bloonarius, only standard game modifiers (Easy = base speed, Medium = +10% speed, Hard = +25% speed) and the MOAB Speed modifier affect the speed of Vortex. Relative speed to Red Bloon is listed below:
| Boss Tier | Speed Relative to Red Bloon | |
|---|---|---|
| Normal Vortex | Elite Vortex | |
| 1 | 14.4% | 15% |
| 2 | 14.4% | 16.2% |
| 3 | 15.6% | 18% |
| 4 | 16.2% | 18.6% |
| 5 | 16.8% | 19.2% |
In addition, during Vortex events, more fast bloons appear than normal in earlier rounds along with rounds 5, 12, and 24 also being modified. The normal bloon spawns on Round 5-40 are modified on top of each Boss Bloon spawn round and normal Round 5-40. In addition, Vortex and all natural bloons always have a faster than normal speed, +10% faster than normal, as accounted in the special rulesets. Round modifiers are listed below:
| Round | Description |
|---|---|
| 5 | 6 Yellows |
| 12 | +1 layer all Bloons (If there were ceramics they would be MOABs) |
| 24 | 20 Blues and 1 Camo Green, Replace by 20 Pinks and 1 Camo Yellow |
| 30 | 4 Yellows, 5 Pinks |
| 40 | M.O.A.B. replaced by 6 Ceramics |
| 41 | 60 Pinks |
| 60 | B.F.B. replaced by 6 M.O.A.B.s |
| 80 | Z.O.M.G. replaced by 6 B.F.B.s |
| 100 | B.A.D. replaced by 4 Z.O.M.G.s, 6 D.D.T.s |
Immunities[]
Vortex: Deadly Master of Air has the same immunities shared by the rest of the Boss Bloons:
- The same immunities as the BAD (Stuns, Slowness, Knockback & Instapops).
- Immune to all forms of percentage-based damage and instant health reduction (i.e. MOAB Hex, Big Bloon Sabotage, and Grand Saboteur ability).
- Immune to Legend of the Night's passive black hole ability, meaning that leaking the boss will always result in a game over.
- Immune to Navarch of the Seas hook ability.
- Immune to Megalodon devour attack.
Boss Health[]
This stats is for normal Vortex. For more information, see #Elite Vortex.
| Boss Tier | Skull Count | Health | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 player | 2 players (+20%) |
3 players (+40%) |
4 players (+60%) | ||
| 1 | 3 | 20,000 | 24,000 | 28,000 | 32,000 |
| 2 | 3 | 62,800 | 75,600 | 87,920 | 100,480 |
| 3 | 3 | 294,000 | 352,800 | 411,600 | 470,400 |
| 4 | 3 | 628,000 | 753,600 | 879,200 | 1,004,800 |
| 5 | 3 | 2,512,500 | 3,015,000 | 3,517,500 | 4,020,000 |
Boss Health in co-op scales with number of players. Each additional player increases the Boss health by 20%, up to 60%.
Like all Boss Bloons, Vortex's total health can be adjusted with challenge modifiers that affect MOAB-class health, specifically the Double HP MOABs (2x health) submode, the MOAB Health modifier, and Boss Health modifier.
Stun Duration[]
At skull health, Vortex stuns nearby towers. The duration depends on its tier. Stun range also depends on tier.
| Boss Tier | Stun duration | Stun range |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16s | 60 |
| 2 | 19s | 65 |
| 3 | 21s | 70 |
| 4 | 24s | 75 |
| 5 | 27s | 80 |
Elite Vortex[]
Elite Vortex is a stronger version of normal Vortex. It retains similar properties to its normal counterpart, but gains even stronger properties, making it even more difficult to destroy compared to its normal counterpart. Inflicts longer stun duration, summons its windshield at a faster rate, and possesses 7 skull stages compared to its non-Elite counterpart. Popping it will give greater prizes.
Gimmick (Elite)[]
Towers stunned by Elite Vortex at tier 1 and 2 are stunned for 2 seconds longer than normal Vortex's stun duration at these respective tiers. At tiers 3, 4 and 5, stun duration is extended even more, 3 seconds longer than the normal counterpart. Stunning range of Elite Vortex remains identical compared to its normal counterpart. Wind bursts occur every 2.5 seconds instead of 5.
Elite Health[]
| Boss Tier | Skull Count | Health | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 player | 2 players (+20%) |
3 players (+40%) |
4 players (+60%) | ||
| 1 | 7 | 41,800 | 50,160 | 58,520 | 66,880 |
| 2 | 7 | 251,000 | 301,200 | 351,400 | 401,600 |
| 3 | 7 | 1,675,000 | 2,010,000 | 2,345,000 | 2,680,000 |
| 4 | 7 | 6,700,000 | 8,040,000 | 9,380,000 | 10,720,000 |
| 5 | 7 | 33,500,000 | 40,200,000 | 46,900,000 | 53,600,000 |
Boss Health in co-op scales with number of players. Each additional player increases the Boss health by 20%, up to 60%.
Like all Boss Bloons, Elite Vortex's total health can be adjusted with challenge modifiers that affect MOAB-class health, specifically the Double HP MOABs (2x health) submode, the MOAB Health modifier, and Boss Health modifier.
Elite Stun Duration[]
Elite Vortex stuns nearby towers for a longer duration than the normal Vortex. Stun range, as with normal Vortex, depends on tier.
| Boss Tier | Stun duration | Stun range |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18s | 60 |
| 2 | 21s | 65 |
| 3 | 24s | 70 |
| 4 | 27s | 75 |
| 5 | 30s | 80 |
Rewards[]
Badge for winning Normal Vortex
Vortex and its Elite variant have 5 tiers each. Popping each tier rewards Monkey Money, and additional rewards upon beating higher tiers. Starting from Tier 3, Trophies can be earned. Beating the Tier 5 boss automatically wins the game, provided the player finishes the current round, and rewards the highest tier prize plus a special badge. Beating normal Tier 5 Vortex during the current event rewards the standard Vortex badge, while beating Tier 5 Elite Vortex after beating the current standard Vortex will additionally reward an Elite Vortex badge.
Refer to Boss Bloon Event (BTD6) for further details.
Strategy[]
Summary[]
Vortex speeds up bloons, making bloons behind it travel at an extremely accelerated speed until they reach it, the storm shield at each skull allows projectileless towers (like Sniper Monkeys) to be more powerful and Vortex's potential to stun towers means that long-ranged towers are favorable. Vortex can also delete projectiles with regular storms, and creates a temporary shield that repels all projectiles when at skull health. In fact, certain strategies that may work on Bloonarius and Lych (e.g. Perma-Spike for boss damage) will not work effectively against Vortex.
Tips[]
- Ninja Kiwi specifically recommended on their Version 31.0 patch notes to use distributed placements and ranged attacks as a way to help destroy Vortex.
- It is not recommended to rely on clusters of heavily buffed close-range towers (eg. a large number of DPS towers in range of a Alchemist or Monkey Village); although they will deal significant damage to Vortex, they will likely all be stunned once Vortex reaches skull health. If the player lacks any other defenses, this may also lead to the sped-up bloons slipping through the opening and causing a loss.
- Vortex's storm shield can also shield bloons in its vicinity until they slip through, so having extra defenses behind the main boss DPS can be useful to catch them.
- Opt for long-ranged and/or projectileless towers if possible. The most optimal example would be Sniper Monkey, as it has both of these attributes. Plasma Accelerator and Ray of Doom work too, since they utilize laserbeams, which do not involve projectiles.
- Avoid putting Dartling Gunner, Sniper Monkey, Heli Pilot and Monkey Ace near the Vortex. This would otherwise waste their long-ranged potential.
- Avoid placing Banana Farms near the path, as Vortex can destroy bananas with its wind and temporarily stop production by stunning Farms.
- Vortex can also stun Paragons if they are too close to it.
- It is possible to stunlock Vortex with heavy DPS, particularly at the beginning of the map. The most notable example is with Apex Plasma Master as the splitting projectiles can cause tremendous damage when bouncing off of the map entrance.
- In addition, if Vortex gets pushed back into an Apex Plasma master (in such a way that the shield will cover it), the said paragon will do more damage due to his projectiles bouncing inside the shield
- Since Vortex's stun and projectile repelling radius at Tier 1 is 60 units, this size can be easily replicated in Sandbox Mode. Arcane Mastery and the base Monkey Buccaneer have exactly 60 range. Note that it increases in higher tiers.
- Similarly, Vortex's projectile deflection radius is 80 units. To test Vortex's projectile deflection and Tier 5 stun range, use a 0-2-5 Legend of the Night (81 range) and move it with Darkshift. Crossbow Master, which has 80 range, is also fairly accurate, even when considering the minor bonus range it can get from
Crossbow Reach. Prince of Darkness is always 80 range.
- Similarly, Vortex's projectile deflection radius is 80 units. To test Vortex's projectile deflection and Tier 5 stun range, use a 0-2-5 Legend of the Night (81 range) and move it with Darkshift. Crossbow Master, which has 80 range, is also fairly accurate, even when considering the minor bonus range it can get from
Version History[]
Vortex has remained fairly unchanged from its initial release, apart from a noticeable increase in Vortex's stun radius.
Balance changes are shown in terms of player favorability.
- 31.0
- Released
- 31.2
- [Bug Fix] Vortex deflection shield now save in saves
- 32.0
| “ | Vortex’s Stun radius has proved to be a little too small allowing for some cheesier strategies than intended, but instead of a flat increase at all tiers we have decide to trial a slight increase up throughout each tier. | ” |
| ~ Ninja Kiwi |
- Vortex stun radius increased for Vortex above Tier 1.
- Vortex Tier 2 stun radius increased from 60 → 65
- Vortex Tier 3 stun radius increased from 60 → 70
- Vortex Tier 4 stun radius increased from 60 → 75
- Vortex Tier 5 stun radius increased from 60 → 80
- 38.0
| “ | As knowledge, power & variety of Paragons has developed they have turned out to be extremely powerful against vortex and we have reached a point with enough good paragon diversity we no longer feel like they need to resist Vortex’s stun for such a large advantage over other towers, instead of this we feel Vortex’s stun is just too long in general so is being reworked to an overall lower amount across the tiers without any paragon immunity. | ” |
| ~ Ninja Kiwi |
- Vortex's stun duration reworked at all tiers except Normal T1, overall decreasing duration at higher tiers.
- Normal T1 remains 16s
- Normal T2: 16s → 19s
- Normal T3: 20s → 21s
- Normal T4: 25s → 24s
- Normal T5: 30s → 27s
- Elite T1: 20s → 18s
- Elite T2: 25s → 21s
- Elite T3: 30s → 24s
- Elite T4: 36s → 27s
- Elite T5: 40s → 30s
- Paragons no longer resist 50% percentage of Vortex's stun duration
- Normal T1 8s → 16s
- Normal T2 8s → 19s
- Normal T3 10s → 20s
- Normal T4 12.5s → 24s
- Normal T5 15s → 27s
- Elite T1 10s → 18s
- Elite T2 12.5s → 21s
- Elite T3 15s → 24s
- Elite T4 18s → 27s
- Elite T5 20s → 30s
Sounds[]
Vortex Life FX[]
When Vortex spawns:
- [thunderstorm with electric discharge in the background]
When Vortex dies:
- [airship failure noises, explosions, and electric discharge]
Vortex Stun FX[]
When Vortex reaches skull health, triggering a stunwave:
- [electric malfunction and distortion]
Vortex Tornado FX[]
When Vortex summons a tornado shield:
- [breath of wind]
- [breath of wind]
- [breath of wind]
- [breath of wind]
Quotes[]
| “ |
|
” |
| ~ Version 31.0 preview notes |
Gallery[]
 |
See the Gallery Section! Because of the size of the gallery, the gallery section here has been moved elsewhere so that this current page will be less cluttered. See Vortex: Deadly Master of Air (BTD6)/Gallery to find the new fresh gallery section! |
Basic Gallery[]
- For a deeper overview of this gallery, see Vortex: Deadly Master of Air (BTD6)/Gallery
Trivia[]
- Vortex is the first Boss Bloon in BTD6 that does not spawn any bloons whatsoever.
- On multi-lane maps, the passive bloon speed buff Vortex gives makes bloons on the lane(s) Vortex is not on faster for the entire length of the track, no matter the position of Vortex.
- Vortex is currently the first returning Boss Bloon that has additional abilities the original BMC counterpart never had, with the addition of its shields of wind and storm, and the ability to get rid of projectiles in a big radius occasionally.
- It can be argued that Bloonarius the Inflator also has different abilities from the BMC counterpart, however it's more of a rework to its original ability of summoning bloons.
- Vortex is the first Boss Bloon to not have an original theme on launch. This was confirmed by the composer, though it's not confirmed if that may change in a future update.
- As of 31.0, it reuses Bloonarius the Inflator's theme, Primal One.
- In Ninja Kiwi's Version 31.0 update video, Vortex's spawn point markings incorrectly use Lych's gravestones. The Version 31.0 correctly uses Vortex's correct spawn point markings, yellow electrifying crystals to be precise.
- Vortex does not have a front propeller in-game as it does in BMC Mobile or all Vortex icons in all BMC games.
- In almost every Vortex boss event, Vortex has been accompanied by both an increased Bloon and MOAB speed modifier. The exceptions to this include its debut on Week 39, as well as Weeks 63 (Cornfield), 79 (Dark Castle) and 83 (Middle of the Road).
Ninja Kiwi Blogs[]
- According to Ninja Kiwi's 22nd April 2022 blog, Dr. Monkey suggests that Vortex goes backwards as "some sort of defense mechanism".
- According to Ninja Kiwi's 23rd June 2022 blog, Vortex is likely not going to receive a unique boss soundtrack. Ninja Kiwi explains that Boss Bloons won't necessarily each have a unique soundtrack dedicated to each of them.
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