Wizard Monkey

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Pre-BTD6

BTD6

BATTD

Bloons Pop!

BTDB2

“	Hurls magical bolts of energy at the Bloons. Can upgrade to a variety of powerful spells.	”
	^{~ In-game Description}

The Wizard Monkey is a Magic-class tower that was released in the initial release of Bloons TD 6. The tower retains its role from the Bloons TD 4 and Bloons TD 5 game generations, with a name change from "Monkey Apprentice" alongside other significant changes. It did not receive any teasers prior to release, but it was first shown when the game was available to select YouTubers several days before BTD6's official release date.

Wizard Monkeys produce bolts every 1.1s that pop up to 3 bloons each. It is slower than the Engineer Monkey but it can pop Frozen Bloons at the cost of not popping Purple Bloons, due to its Energy damage type. Many of the Wizard Monkey's upgrades either enhance its magical bolt or add additional powerful attacks.

It costs $340 on Easy, $400 on Medium, $430 on Hard, and $480 on Impoppable.

Description[]

The Wizard Monkey wears a light black cloak and a small light black wizardly hat, with yellow crescent moons on it, just as it did in BTD5 when it was called the Monkey Apprentice. It does not look very different compared to his BTD5 counterpart, other than the fact that it now has the BTD6 art style.

The Wizard Monkey has a moderate overhaul in Bloons TD 6, losing several key abilities that had been a staple for the tower in previous installments and instead replaced with some new attacks. Most lost spells from prior installments however are now found in the Druid instead. The Wizard Monkey also lost the power to pop lead bloons without any upgrades, requiring it to have the Fireball, Arcane Spike, or Necromancer: Unpopped Army upgrades in order to do so.

The Wizard Monkey can select two paths at a time, one that enhances its main energy bolt, a second that grants fire-based spells, and a third that focuses on spells geared towards detection and necromancy.

Path 1 allows the monkey to attack anywhere in its range with Guided Magic, ignoring Line of Sight. Arcane Spike allows the Wizard Monkey to pop lead bloons, as well as increasing the DPS it does to MOAB-Class bloons, and as Archmage, it inherits the Dragon's Breath and Shimmer of the second and third paths respectively. It mainly specializes in DPS.

Path 2 makes the Wizard Monkey wield fire-based attacks. However, Purple Bloons will pose a problem for it. Further down Path 2 will allow it to summon a phoenix that can also pop purple bloons at its 5th tier.

Path 3 centralizes the Wizard Monkey to focus on more of a support role with the Shimmer Upgrade that decamoizes bloons. The Necromancer: Unpopped Army upgrade transforms the Shimmer into an effective cleanup tower and even more so with Prince of Darkness.

The Wizard Monkey is classed as a Magic Monkey.

Target Priorities[]

The base Wizard Monkey uses the standard target priorities: First, Last, Close, Strong. Many of the Wizard's alternate attacks have target priorities that are integrated into the Wizard's own target 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.

Certain alternate attacks have a different set of target priorities:

Wall of Fire always sets on Close by default. Adding Guided Magic can adjust location of where the Wall of Fire spawns based on target priority if there is a bloon within range at the time of creating the attack.
Summon Phoenix's phoenix's flight path is always set on Centered Path, similar to the Centered Path upgrade for the Monkey Ace. It will continue to travel clockwise around the center of the map indefinitely until it disappears.
Wizard Lord Phoenix's transformation always has its flight path set on Centered Path. The WLP Phoenix will continue to travel clockwise around the center of the map indefinitely until it transforms back into a monkey. Wizard Lord Phoenix's permanent phoenix acts exactly the same as Summon Phoenix's phoenix but lasts indefinitely.
Undead Bloons spawn quite differently from other attacks. They will spawn from as back of the bloon tracks as possible, will be smartly be spawned on lanes where bloons are nearing the exit, and will attempt to only spawn on active lanes if applicable.

Upgrades[]

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Path 1[]

	Guided Magic COST: $125 / $150 / $160 / $180 UNLOCK: 110 XP
	Description: Magic shots seek out the Bloons, even behind cover. Effect: All magical bolts can ignore Line of Sight and can seek at bloons. Most other attacks also ignore Line of Sight and gain further projectile lifespan.

	Arcane Blast COST: $510 / $600 / $650 / $720 UNLOCK: 600 XP
	Description: Bigger more powerful magic blasts pop through 2 layers of Bloon. Effect: Main bolt now deals 2 damage.

	Arcane Mastery COST: $1,105 / $1,300 / $1,405 / $1,560 UNLOCK: 2,300 XP
	Description: Faster attacks with increased range, damage, and popping power. Effect: Gains +20 range, 2x attack speed, deals 3 damage per bolt instead of 2, and pops +4 bloons.

	Arcane Spike COST: $9,265 / $10,900 / $11,770 / $13,080 UNLOCK: 11,000 XP
	Description: Faster firing magic does huge damage to most Bloon types. Effect: Deals 5 damage per shot and 16 versus MOAB-class. Attacks 4x faster than an unupgraded Wizard and can pop Lead Bloons.

	Archmage COST: $27,200 / $32,000 / $34,560 / $38,400 UNLOCK: 35,000 XP
	Description: A true master of magical wizardry. Effect: Even higher damage bolts deal 7 damage and 24 MOAB-class damage and attack twice as fast as Arcane Spike. Additionally gains Dragon's Breath and Shimmer attacks.

Path 2[]

	Fireball COST: $255 / $300 / $325 / $360 UNLOCK: 139 XP
	Description: Every few seconds casts an explosive fireball spell. Effect: Every 2.2s, produces a fireball that explodes on impact. Fireballs cannot explode if collided onto Purple Bloons, and fireball explosions cannot damage Black properties.

	Wall of Fire COST: $765 / $900 / $970 / $1,080 UNLOCK: 700 XP
	Description: Creates a super hot wall of fire across the track to roast the Bloons as they pass. Effect: Creates a blaze of fire onto the closest region of bloon track. Bloons will be dealt damage as they pass by.

	Dragon's Breath COST: $2,550 / $3,000 / $3,240 / $3,600 UNLOCK: 2,600 XP
	Description: Spews endless flames at nearby Bloons and enhances Fireball and Wall of Fire. Effect: Rapidly spews flames at bloons, deals extra damage to Ceramics, and sets affected bloons on fire for more damage. Fireball deals more damage and Wall of Fire is spawned faster.

	Summon Phoenix COST: $3,400 / $4,000 / $4,320 / $4,800 UNLOCK: 13,000 XP
	Description: Summon Phoenix ability: Powerful phoenix wreaks Bloon havoc for 20 seconds. Effect: Ability generates a phoenix that rapidly spews flames that deal 4 damage each.

	Wizard Lord Phoenix COST: $45,900 / $54,000 / $58,320 / $64,800 UNLOCK: 35,000 XP
	Description: Wizard Lord becomes a master of the flame, turning into a super powerful Lava Phoenix for a short time. Effect: Enhances damage of all fire-related attacks, Dragon's Breath attack gains huge pierce, and phoenix is permanent. Ability now transforms the monkey into a super-phoenix that spews even stronger flames and regular volleys of powerful meteors.

Path 3[]

	Intense Magic COST: $255 / $300 / $325 / $360 UNLOCK: 140 XP
	Description: More powerful magic shots move faster and can pop more Bloons. Effect: Bolt gains +5 pierce and moves faster. Most fire-based attacks gain a certain amount of bonus pierce.

	Monkey Sense COST: $255 / $300 / $325 / $360 UNLOCK: 500 XP
	Description: Allows the Wizard to hit Camo Bloons. Effect: Self-explanatory

	Shimmer COST: $1,445 / $1,700 / $1,835 / $2,040 UNLOCK: 2,200 XP
	Description: Gains a dark magic attack that periodically reveals location of all nearby Camo bloons permanently. Effect: Gains a shimmer attack. Periodically produces dark waves of magic that permanently remove camo properties off bloons.

	Necromancer: Unpopped Army COST: $2,380 / $2,800 / $3,025 / $3,360 UNLOCK: 10,000 XP
	Description: Reanimate recently popped enemies as servants to destroy the Bloons. Effect: Stores Undead Bloons into its personal graveyard every time any tower pops bloons within its range, and spawns them out to attack bloons. Undead Bloons pop any bloon type. Undead Bloons gain further pierce, damage, and attack speed as the graveyard count grows.

	Prince of Darkness COST: $20,400 / $24,000 / $25,920 / $28,800 UNLOCK: 30,000 XP
	Description: Reanimate even more powerful Bloon servants to obliterate the enemy and enhances all other Necromancers. Effect: Expands its personal graveyard greatly, Undead Bloons last longer, and can now also summon Undead MOABs and Undead BFBs that deal even more damage and pop more bloons. Improves damage and lifespan of all Undead Bloons on screen including its own.

Total Costs[]

		Tier 1	Tier 2	Tier 3	Tier 4	Tier 5
Path 1
	Base Cost	150	600	1,300	10,900	32,000
	Cumulative Cost	550	1,150	2,450	13,350	45,350
	Base Sell	105	420	910	7,630	22,400
	Cumulative Sell	385	805	1,715	9,345	31,745
Path 2
	Base Cost	300	900	3,000	4,000	54,000
	Cumulative Cost	700	1,600	4,600	8,600	62,600
	Base Sell	210	630	2,100	2,800	37,800
	Cumulative Sell	490	1,120	3,220	6,020	43,820
Path 3
	Base Cost	300	300	1,700	2,800	24,000
	Cumulative Cost	700	1,000	2,700	5,500	29,500
	Base Sell	210	210	1,190	1,960	16,800
	Cumulative Sell	490	700	1,890	3,850	20,650

Strategies[]

Main article: Wizard Monkey/Strategies

Monkey Knowledge[]

This section displays Monkey Knowledge that has effects on Wizard Monkey and its changes when compared to one by default:

Lingering Magic: Projectiles fired from all Wizard Monkey have longer lifespan.
- Bolt lasts 20% longer, from x seconds → x seconds.
- Wall of Fire lasts 20% longer, from 4.5 seconds → 5.4 seconds
Magic Tricks: Guided Magic and Intense Magic cost 25 less.
- Guided Magic cost reduced from $125, $150, $160, $180 to $100, $125, $135, $160 on each difficulty.
- Intense Magic cost reduced from $255, $300, $325, $360 to $230, $275, $300, $335 on each difficulty.
Hot Magic: All Magic type towers can pop Frozen Bloons.
- Technically affects all Magic Monkeys, but because Wizard Monkey lacks any damage type that cannot pop Frozen, it remains unaffected.
Flame Jet: Dragon's Breath flame projectiles move much faster.
- Dragon's Breath flame projectiles fly 50% faster.
Arcane Impale: Arcane Spike does extra damage to MOAB-Class and Ceramic Bloons.
- Deals 17 damage instead of 16 to MOAB-Class Bloons.
- Deals 6 damage instead of 5 to Ceramic Bloons.
Monkey Education: All Monkeys XP earn rate increased by 8%.
Better Sell Deals: All Monkeys sell for 5% more.
- Increases sell potency from 70% to 75%.
Veteran Monkey Training: All Monkeys reload time reduced by 3%.
Global Ability Cooldowns: All Ability cooldowns for all Monkeys reduced by 3%.

Version History (BTD6)[]

Initial release

Lightning Bolt and Tornados are no longer available.
Attacks can't damage Purples (at least in general).
Base attack can't damage Leads before significant upgrading.
Monkey Sense is on the same path as Intense Magic instead of Fireball.
Dragon's Breath and Summon Phoenix include Wall of Fire instead (was a to price at the time).

Balance Changes[]

2.0

3-x-x Arcane Mastery now adds pierce.
5-x-x Archmage now adds pierce.
x-5-x Phoenix projectile speed greatly increased, and shoots more large fireballs.
x-x-5 Soulbind upgrade has been re-designed into the Prince of Darkness.

3.0

1-x-x Guided Magic will now allow the main attack to pass through obstacles.
x-5-x Wizard Lord Phoenix should no longer lock itself from being purchased again if sold under certain situations.
x-5-x Wizard Lord Phoenix will no longer crash the game if redeployed while the ability is active.
x-5-x Wizard Lord Phoenix's ability icon should no longer disappear until the ability wears off.
x-x-4+ Unpopped Army will now spawn zombie bloons correctly in all cases as long as it can reach the track.

4.0

1-2-0 Guided Magic will now allow the Wall of Fire to ignore walls.

6.0

x-5-x Wizard Lord Phoenix pierce increased to 50 on main tower dragon's breath & main Phoenix fire breath attacks.

7.0

0-0-0 Wizard Monkey price reduced from $550 → $450.
x-3-x Dragon's Breath price reduced from $3,600 → $3,000.
x-4-x Summon Phoenix price reduced from $5,000 → $4,000.
x-5-x Wizard Lord Phoenix price reduced from $80,000 → $60,000.

8.0

x-2-x Wall of Fire price reduced $1,300 → $900.
x-3-x Dragon's Breath Wall of Fire fire rate increase 5.5s → 4.5s.
x-4-x Summon Phoenix damage increased 1 → 2.

10.0

x-3-x Dragon's Breath now applies a burn Damage Over Time equal to Mortar's Burny Stuff to any Bloon it touches.

11.0

x-x-4 Unpopped Army price reduced from $3,500 → $2,800.
x-x-5 Prince of Darkness now gives +1 damage to Zombies from any Necromancer.
x-x-5 Prince of Darkness now gives +50% duration to Zombies from any Necromancer.
x-x-5 Prince of Darkness range increased from 40 → 80.

12.0

x-4-x Summon Phoenix ability damage increased from 2 to 3.
x-4-x Summon Phoenix projectile speed increased from 200 to 300.

13.0

x-x-4 Unpopped Army zombie bloon damage increased from 1 to 2.

18.0

1-2-0 Wizard now uses tower targeting priority to guide the Wall of Fire.
x-2-x Wall of Fire pierce reduced from 20 → 15.
0-2-1 Wall of Fire pierce increased from 15 → 20 (original Pierce).
x-x-4 Necromancer Wizards now each have their own personal 'graveyard' of 500 capacity rather than 1 shared pool of 2,000.
x-x-4 Necromancer Wizards will display their current graveyard size above their portrait next to their pop count. Any Bloons popped within the Shimmer radius of a Necromancer can be absorbed into that graveyard, but 1 pop will not fill more than 1 graveyard.
x-x-4 Necromancer Wizards will now be able to retain any Bloons in their graveyard for 1 extra round before expiring.
x-x-4 Necromancer Wizard's Zombie lifespan increased from 8 → 10.
x-x-4 Necromancer Wizard's Zombie spawn rate is increased by a flat 10% for every 100 Bloons in the grave reaching a maximum of double attack speed at 500 capacity.
x-x-5 Prince of Darkness Graveyard Capacity increased to 2,000.

19.0

4-x-x Arcane Spike price increased from $10,000 → $10,900.

20.0

“	Second and third path upgrades get some fine tuning for more internal consistency. We want to make slow tweaks here to bring them into better balance.	”
	^{~ Ninja Kiwi}

0-3-1 Dragon's Breath crosspath now benefits from increased pierce 4 → 6.
x-4-x & x-5-x Phoenix summon states should now save between games.
x-x-3 Shimmer price reduced from $1,800 → $1,700.

21.0

“	Though it was never a goal for the base tower to be great, given the additional purple weakness since BTD5 and how poorly it currently performs we feel it deserves to take rank as the cheapest magic tower along with a small buff. Dragon's Breath crosspathing has also been finished up along with a considerable boost to scale Dragon's Breath up against Ceramics. Finally, Unpopped Army changes are also here! We wanted to cover all of the usability issues with this upgrade while also powering it up and expanding more on the mechanic that makes it so unique. We hope this will be enough to make Wizard very useful in a number of ways, but will be keeping a watchful eye on how it plays out.	”
	^{~ Ninja Kiwi}

0-0-0 Wizard Monkey price reduced from $450 → $400.
0-0-0 Wizard Monkey pierce increased from 2 → 3.
x-3-x Dragon's Breath, breath attack gains bonus damage to ceramic +1.
1-3-0 Dragon's Breath increases lifespan of Dragon Breath 0.4 → 0.8.
x-4-x Summon Phoenix projectile radius increased from 5 → 6.
x-4-x Summon Phoenix damage increased from 3 → 4.
x-4-x Summon Phoenix pierce increased from 5 → 6.
x-4-x Summon Phoenix projectile speed increased from 300 → 350.
x-x-4 Unpopped Army now gains a bonus to graveyard after round 81 to make up for the total decrease in child Bloons that are created from Super Ceramics (About 10 per pop).
x-x-4 Unpopped Army targeting has been reworked to function in a smarter way, summoning Zombie Bloons further back to avoid them spawning behind Bloons, and also on multi-lane tracks targeting the lanes that are likely to leak sooner.
x-x-4 Unpopped Army now enhances the power of all of its attacks by 1 for every 200 souls in its Graveyard. This can stack up to 10 times for Prince of Darkness.
x-x-5 Prince of Darkness max Graveyard capacity increased from 2,000 → 3,000.

22.0

“	Some changes have been made to wall of fire to improve race balance in particular.	”
	^{~ Ninja Kiwi}

Wall of Fire attack begins on cooldown when the upgrade is purchase.
Wall of Fire now saves the time remaining on its attack cooldown, rather than always immediately spawning upon starting a round from a game save.
Wall of Fire attack projectiles are removed when the tower is sold.

23.0

“	Despite ranking low overall, Wizard Lord Phoenix has dodged balance changes because of its extremely popular place as a challenge tower. With the rise of other towers in challenges, we've decided to start off buffing it based on its own merits in general gameplay. We've also added some previously intended minor changes to Prince of Darkness which were held back due to bugs that have now been resolved.	”
	^{~ Ninja Kiwi}

Wizard Lord Phoenix price decreased ($60,000 → $54,000).
Dragon's Breath's Fireball radius increased (10 → 14).
Dragon's Breath's Fireball damage increased (1 → 3).
Wizard Lord Phoenix's Fireball damage increased (1 → 9).
Wizard Lord Phoenix's Dragon's Breath damage increased (1 → 2).
Prince of Darkness pops retained in graveyard increased (2 → 3).
Prince of Darkness grave required for damage stacks increased (200 → 300).

25.0

“	Wall of Fire has been reworked in order to cut down on cases of frustrating randomness as well as the initial cooldown on the attack being reduced. Additionally at the highest tier all fire attacks will be further enhanced in damage.	”
	^{~ Ninja Kiwi}

x-2-x Wall of Fire now targets 'closest' track position by default, instead of randomly.
x-2-x Wall of Fire initial cooldown reduced from 5.5s → 1.
x-5-x Wizard Lord Phoenix, Fireball damage increased from 9 → 27.
x-5-x Wizard Lord Phoenix, Wall of Fire damage increased 1 → 3.
x-5-x Wizard Lord Phoenix, Breath damage increased from 2 → 6.

27.0

“

In order to allow for more strategic use of the birdy, Summoned Phoenix will now follow the set target priority.

”

Summon Phoenix now copies targeting of the Wizard instead of defaulting to Close
[undocumented] Both the permanent Phoenix and the ability-induced Lava Phoenix for Wizard Lord Phoenix are affected by this buff as well.

28.0

“	Some general buffs have been made to Wizard's abilities to give it a small boost. Prince of Darkness has been performing extremely well after all its buffs and this is nice after it underperformed for so long, but the round 81 change to counter reduced Bloon Children with bonus Graveyard per pop has made it sustain high levels of graveyard too easily, this bonus has been lowered a little.	”
	^{~ Ninja Kiwi}

Summon Phoenix Ability cooldown reduced from 60s -> 45s
Summon Phoenix Ability cooldown reduced from 50s -> 45s
Summon Phoenix Ability damage increased from 4 -> 5
Summon Phoenix Ability pierce increased from 6 -> 10
Wizard Lord Phoenix Ability flaming ball travel range increased from 180 -> 250
Monkey Sense now grants Wizard Monkey the new Camo Prioritization filter
Prince of Darkness 'bonus grave' after r81 reduced from 7 -> 13 to 7 -> 10

29.0

“	As Wall of Fire still stands out too much for a Tier 2 upgrade, it is seeing a nerf with some power being shifted further up to the T3 instead. In contrast, Fireball continues to underwhelm, so is seeing an initial buff plus a larger buff at T3.	”
	^{~ Ninja Kiwi}

Wall of Fire tick rate decreased from 0.1s → 0.15s. Requires Dragon's Breath to return to 0.1s tick rate.
021 pierce bonus to wall of fire reduced from +5 → +4
Fireball fireball's attack delay reduced from 3s → 2.2s
Dragon's Breath fireball's damage increased from 3 → 9

Bug Fixes and General Changes[]

8.1

Wall of Fire no longer pops Purple Bloons without support.
Wall of Fire now disappears upon impacting a Purple Bloon instead of simply allowing the Purple Bloon to pass by untouched.
Wall of Fire and Dragon's Breath now (correctly) can be deployed/shot further when the Wizard Monkey has increased range.

11.0

x-4-x Wizard's Phoenix should no longer stop attacking when villages are placed within its radius.
x-x-4 Necromancer has had some performance improvements.

12.0

Fireball can no longer hit Camo Bloons without Monkey Sense.

14.0

4-x-x Wizard's description has been updated.
x-4-x Wizard's Phoenix can no longer be targeted for overclock without doing anything.

15.0

x-x-5 Prince of Darkness should now only show buff icons to other Necromancers.
x-x-5 Prince of Darkness description has been updated to include its buff.

16.0

Removing objects from the map should no longer 'sell' the x4x Phoenix out of the air.

17.0

Wall of Fire asset updated.
Dragon's Breath fire asset updated.
Phoenix's flames assets updated.
Wizard Lord Phoenix should no longer count as 2 towers.
Prince of Darkness no longer rotates.

17.1

Resolved a rare crash upgrading Wizard to x-5-x.
Wizard Lord's minor Phoenix at x-5-x is now permanently permanent at all times.

18.0

0-4-0 Phoenix can no longer be sacrificed to a temple if it flies over the top.

20.0

x-4-x Phoenix summons should no longer be consumed when moving off an ice platform.
x-x-5 Prince of Darkness should no longer display buff icon when placing towers that cannot receive its buff.

22.0

x-2-x Wall of Fire should no longer occasionally 'be eaten' by nearby walls if the tower is placed next to a blocker.
x-5-x Wizard Lord Phoenix correctly hits all Bloon Types with radial balls.

23.0

1-1-0 Fireball now correctly ignores blockers with Guided Magic.
Necromancer no longer depletes grave from current round before previous.

24.0

x-3-x Dragon's Breath description has been updated with more detail.
x-x-3 Shimmer description has been updated with more detail.

25.0

x-2-x Wall of Fire visual issue resolved where tower attack animation would not be correct under some cases.

Gallery[]

Official artwork[]

Videos[]

TBA

Trivia[]

In BTD6, the three paths are based on base magic, fire magic and dark magic.
The Wizard Monkey used to be the only tower in Bloons TD 6 to have two fifth tier towers that have abilites being, Wizard Lord Phoenix and Soulbind.
- This is no longer true after update 2.0 due to Soulbind getting replaced by the Prince of Darkness
  - Legend of the Night gained a new ability anyway in update 17.0 so it wouldn't have mattered.
The name "Wizard Monkey" is new to Bloons TD 6, as previous games never referred the Monkey Apprentice as a "Wizard Monkey". The BTD4 Tempest Tornado refers to the Apprentice as a "Monkey Wizard", but not "Wizard Monkey".
The minimum upgrade for Wizard Monkey to damage DDTs without supports is 0-2-2, because Fireball cannot damage DDTs, as its damaging explosion is explosive type, not fire type, but Wall of Fire is true fire type.
All Tier 3 Wizards gain a wand of their respective discipline colors.