Crossbow

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Crossbow is the third upgrade of Path 3 for the Dart Monkey in Bloons TD 6. It turns the Dart Monkey into a crossbow operator, exchanging darts for crossbow bolts. Each crossbow bolt deals 3 damage instead of 1, has 3 pierce instead of 2 (increased to 6 with 1-0-3, 9 with 2-0-3), and projectile speed increased from 350 to 400. Crossbow's range also increases from 48 to 60, equivalent to 87.5% more range than a 0-0-0 Dart Monkey.

This upgrade costs $490 on Easy, $575 on Medium, $620 on Hard, and $690 on Impoppable.

Description

Overview

This upgrade gives the Dart Monkey a purple eyeband and its wristbands change from red to purple. It gains a crossbow to fire from, and carries a small bandolier of darts. The monkey holds the crossbow with both hands. When idle, the monkey sometimes shakes the crossbow sideways, or the monkey briefly adjusts hand positions.

Adding Path 2 crosspaths gives it a colored headband, while the Path 1 crosspaths gives it a colored tailband.

Crossbows shoot bolts that deal 3 damage and have 3 pierce per shot. The base projectile speed of each bolt is 400, increased from 350. The monkey gains a considerable range boost on top, from 48 to 60.

Targeting Priorities

Crossbow targets bloons using the standard targeting priorities. It shoots straight movement projectiles.

• 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.

Crossbow can access Camo Prioritization, allowing all its attacks to prioritize Camo Bloons over other types when this secondary targeting option is active.

Full Popology

Statistics

Updated as of Version 45.2

Base stats

• Dart:
  • Projectile, sharp type, camo detection, 60 range, 0.95s attack cooldown, 3 damage, 3 pierce, 400 projectile speed, 0.31640625s projectile lifespan.

Crosspathing interactions

• 1-0-3:
  • Dart pierce increased pierce increased from 3 to 6, compared to 0-0-3.
• 2-0-3:
  • Dart pierce increased pierce increased from 6 to 9, compared to 1-0-3.
• 0-1-3:
  • Dart attack cooldown reduced from 0.95s to 0.8075s, compared to 0-0-3.
• 0-2-3:
  • Dart attack cooldown reduced from 0.8075s to 0.633s, compared to 0-1-3.

Monkey Knowledge interactions

• Increased Lifespan: Projectiles shot from Dart Monkey have increased lifespan.
• Extra Dart Pops: Increase projectile pierce by 1, from 3 to 4 by default.
• Crossbow Reach: Increases range of the Crossbow by 3, from 56 to 59.
• Bonus Monkey!: Each game starts with a Free Dart Monkey.
• Come On Everybody!: Primary towers attack 5% faster if all are below tier 3, and cost 5% less if all are tier 3 or 4.
• 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%.

Attack Interactions

See also: Attack Interactions/Bloons TD 6/Primary

Updated as of Version 33.3

Base attack(s)

• Dart:
  • Sharp
  • Camo Detection
  • Single Projectile
  • Straight Attack
  • Extra Damage (3)

Costs

Updated as of Version 46.0. Listed prices exclude external buffs, any sacrifices, and Monkey Knowledge.

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

Strategy

Summary

Crossbow excels at reducing the strength of stronger early-game bloons into groups of weaker bloons for a remarkably low price. It also has decent pierce and projectile speed. Optimize its high damage potential by setting on Strong and letting it attack along straightaways.

Tips

• A 0-2-3 Crossbow is generally better than a 2-0-3. While the pierce bonuses from the top path allow the crossbow to pierce through 6 Bloons in a single shot (opposed to 3 without crosspathing), the 33% faster attack speed provided by the middle path far outweighs it in most situations. This is due to it not being able to make the most of its pierce in the majority of situations. However, a 2-0-3 could be significantly more helpful along straightline formations.
• One Crossbow can be used to give other towers an easier time to pop Yellows, Pinks, Blacks, Whites, Purples, and Zebras on earlier rounds. Set it on Strong to let it chip away at the layers of those bloon types.
• Crossbows have a tendency to miss bloons at the edge of their range, or when firing perpendicular to the bloons' movement. In order to maximize accuracy, try to set crossbows close to their most important targets when possible, and facing the bloons' movement head-on.

Version History

Balance Changes

Bug Fixes and General Changes

This section is incomplete. You can help by expanding it.

Extra Notes (Version History)

Gallery

Crosspathing (Top: Path 1, Bottom: Path 2)

Crossbow attacking Purple Bloons

Crossbow in the upgrade menu prior to the Version 25.0 XP buff

Crossbow bolt demonstrating inheritance from Enhanced Eyesight lifespan buff

Crossbow range comparisons

Official artwork

Upgrade portrait

Upgrade icon

Instamonkey icon

Projectiles

Crossbow arrow

Other languages

Trivia

• During Version 6.0, multiple people have managed to spend less than $2,000 to win Logs Deflation Mode using just Gwendolin and one 0-0-3 Crossbow.
  • The record is held by ISAB, at $1,465 on 10th December 2018, during Version 6.0. This did not change until Version 21.1 on 27th October 2020, where Gwen + 0-0-0 Dart + 1-1-0 Sniper was achieved.
• The Version 47.0 balance change to Crossbow marks the second occurance of a balance change that has only two significant factors of the number 69 in the upgrade cost, that being the Impoppable cost of $690. The first occurance is the price nerf to Sprockets in Version 29.0.