[Source]
| “ | Ability duration is longer, and MOAB-Class Bloons spawn with less health during the sabotage. Buffs all Shinobi. | ” |
| ~ In-game description |
Grand Saboteur is the 5th upgrade of Path 2 for the Ninja Monkey in Bloons TD 6. It improves its own Bloon Sabotage ability into the Grand Saboteur ability, which lasts for 30 seconds instead of 15 seconds, additionally causing all incoming MOAB-Class Bloons to spawn with only 75% of their original health before entering the track (also for a spawn-in period of 30 seconds), along with the usual 50% slowdown to all bloons and outer MOAB-class layers on screen. Additionally, the Grand Saboteur's ability grants all Shinobis on screen +10 range and +2 damage to MOAB-class bloons while active. Grand Saboteur's ability has a cooldown of 60 seconds.
Any instant health reduction to incoming MOAB-class bloons caused by the Grand Saboteur ability will be recorded on the damage counter on the Grand Saboteur who activated most recently. If an Ascended Shadow is on screen, the health reduction is recorded on the Ascended Shadow instead.
This upgrade costs $18,700 on Easy, $22,000 on Medium, $23,760 on Hard, and $26,400 on Impoppable.
Quick Answers
What is the main ability of the Grand Saboteur in Bloons TD 6?
How does the Grand Saboteur affect the health of MOAB-Class Bloons?
How long does the Grand Saboteur ability last in Bloons TD 6?
What is the upgrade path for the Ninja Monkey to become the Grand Saboteur?
How does the Grand Saboteur buff other Shinobi in the game?
Description
Overview
Grand Saboteur now has a black head scarf on the head and only one bright eye instead of four eyes. Its shinobi case that stores the ninja's scroll is now black with red at the ends of the thicker cylinder. On the monkey's right hand is a black handheld fan with orange-red tips. While idle, the monkey sometimes fans itself.
Grand Sabeoteur adds the Grand Saboteur ability, which lasts for 30 seconds instead of 15, reduces incoming MOAB-class health by 25%, and buffs all Shinobis to gain +10 range and +2 MOAB-class damage for the duration. Ability can't be reactivated until duration is over.
Activated Abilities
The Grand Saboteur ability functions almost exactly like Bloon Sabotage except all blimps spawning from the entrance lose 25% of their maximum health, and the ability lasts for 30 seconds instead of 15 seconds. All Shinobis, including itself, are also buffed by +2 MOAB-class damage and +10 range for the duration of the ability. Cooldown of 60 seconds. Unlike normal Bloon Sabotage, Grand Saboteur cannot be reactivated while already active.
Like most magic-based activated abilities, Bloon Sabotage's ability cooldowns can be reduced by adding a global Energizer buff or Obyn Level 12+. It can have its ability cooldowns reset with Geraldo's Rejuv Potion.
Targeting Priorities
Grand Saboteur targets bloons using the standard targeting priorities. Its main attack 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.
Grand Saboteur's ability consists of two different offensive attacks: global slowdown, and instant percentage damage. The ability slowdown targets Whole Screen, while the instant percentage damage is a pre-emptive targeting. Grand Saboteur ability also has a charge tower buff that targets all Shinobis and above.
Grand Saboteur also has a tower buff that targets nearby Ninja Monkeys.
Grand Saboteur can access Camo Prioritization, allowing all its attacks to prioritize Camo Bloons over other types when this secondary targeting option is active.
Costs
- Updated as of Version 46.0. 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-5-X) | $18,700 | $22,000 | $23,760 | $26,400 | - | |||
| Total (0-5-0) | $25,030 | $29,450 | $31,800 | $35,340 | $17,521 | $20,615 | $22,260 | $24,738 |
| Crosspath (1-5-0) | $25,325 | $29,800 | $32,180 | $35,760 | $17,728 | $20,860 | $22,526 | $25,032 |
| Crosspath (2-5-0) | $25,620 | $30,150 | $32,560 | $36,180 | $17,934 | $21,105 | $22,792 | $25,326 |
| Crosspath (0-5-1) | $25,285 | $29,750 | $32,125 | $35,700 | $17,700 | $20,825 | $22,488 | $24,990 |
| Crosspath (0-5-2) | $25,665 | $30,200 | $32,610 | $36,240 | $17,966 | $21,140 | $22,827 | $25,368 |
This upgrade's prices (or included crosspath's prices) are affected by the following MK: 
Better Sell Deals
Strategy
Summary
Grand Saboteur further improves the Bloon Sabotage ability to last twice as long and inflict instant 25% damage to all incoming blimps on screen. Although considerably more expensive than multiple Bloon Sabotage abilities, the instant percentage damage and increased duration can come in handy in specific scenarios. Outside of certain challenges, it is mostly used in super high late-game runs to deal massive damage to incoming BADs. However, Grand Saboteur's Shinobi buff via its ability can be used to empower Shinobi armies, particularly to extend their range a little further to cover more Ninjas.
In terms of Grand Saboteur's usage in CHIMPS, Grand Saboteur is a relatively inexpensive Tier 5 with a lot of synergetic potential with multiple Shinobis, in addition to its long-term slowdown ability that also instantly deals large amounts of damage to incoming blimps. With enough Shinobis, a properly used Grand Saboteur can rival other late-game Ninja synergies such as Grandmaster Ninja + Shinobis or Master Bomber + Shinobis.
Tips
- The Grand Saboteur is very useful on Rounds 80+ because MOAB-class health scales from that point due to Freeplay Rules, for modes including Impoppable and CHIMPS, which both require Round 100 to be beaten.
- The extended slowdown along with the weakening of all new MOAB-Class Bloons makes it very powerful against MOAB-Class Bloon rushes and especially against DDTs.
- It is possible to damage a BAD immediately before it appears by activating the Grand Saboteur ability right before Round 99 ends.
- This, combined with Ground Zero or Tsar Bomba, can deal with Round 95 if the track is long enough. This is a recommended strategy for CHIMPS.
- The blimp health reduced from this tower's ability will add to the damage count of the tower. For example, the B.A.D. at Round 100 has 28,000 health, and when the ability is used at the end of Round 99, the B.A.D. will spawn with 21,000 HP, and the lost 7,000 HP will be added into this tower's damage count.
- Monkey Knowledge's Big Bloon Sabotage and Relic's Bigger Bloon Sabotage can stack become even stronger MOAB HP reduction effect.
- Combining a Grand Saboteur with many buffed Shinobi plus Geraldo's Gerry's Fire is very effective, as the buffs from the Grand Saboteur ability and the Shinobi's own buffs carry over into Gerry's Fire.
- Crosspaths are generally insignificant for Grand Saboteur; its crosspathing are based entirely on the choice needed for optimizing Shinobi Tactics. That being said, 0-5-2 is preferable for the increased Shinobi range and the added blowback caltrops.
Bugs
- [Unknown version, likely a bug] For whatever reason, the Grand Saboteur is coded to deal 0
Normal damage to all bloons on screen, but this can be buffed with 
Extra Damage sources on bloons like Glue Strike or Embrittlement or damage-boosting effects like Berserker Brew, allowing the ability to damage bloons globally.
Version History
Balance Changes
Until Version 31.0, Grand Saboteur received several quality-of-life fixes to make Grand Saboteur work more like it is intended to be. Version 31.0 gave Grand Saboteur its first real balance change by letting its ability buff Shinobis, which buffs it in normal gameplay but can be seen as a nerf only in Gravelord Lych boss battles. Grand Saboteur's v31.0 and above balance changes were designed with the intention of expanding the possibility to specialise in buffing Shinobis for purposes of regular gameplay outside of Freeplay.
- 1.0
- The Grand Saboteur ability did not slow down bloons.
- 1.7
Grand Saboteur now slows down all bloons on screen as well.
- 3.0
- Grand Saboteur effects now can carry over rounds.
- [Undocumented] Bloon Sabotage's ability damage to MOAB-class Bloons will be shown on the damage count.
- 28.0
| “ | As ninja is the 'Camo Specialist' and has been since inception, it is the only tower that will unlock Camo Prioritization on the base tower. [...] | ” |
| ~ Ninja Kiwi |
- Affected by base Ninja Monkey, by gaining natural Camo Prioritization target option
- 29.0
- Affected by Distraction alternate attacks buff
- 31.0
| “ | Grand Sabotage is extremely powerful in freeplay, but really boring outside of that one scaling mechanic. For a little more flavour with the shinobi mechanic, the T5 will now boost the potential of your shinobi army. | ” |
| ~ Ninja Kiwi |
- Grand Sabotage ability grants all Shinobis on screen +5 range
- Grand Sabotage ability grants all Shinobis +1 damage to MOAB-class
- 35.0
| “ | Ninja's x5x ability side-benefit of buffing all x3x ninja doesn't quite pack enough punch. | ” |
| ~ Ninja Kiwi |
- Grand Sabotage ability further increases all Shinobis damage to MOAB-class (+1 → +2)
- Grand Sabotage ability further increases all Shinobis range (+5 → +10)
- 40.0
| “ | For an early game Distraction improvement the consistency of blowbacks is being averaged out more with increased minimum distance but reduced maximum, in many cases there would not actually be 250 units of track length in front of defenses to be blown back across anyway so the overall average distance is slightly lower. More at the mid to endgame we are also weakening distraction distance against Ceramics specifically as by this point Ninja have stacked so much speed and projectiles the consistency doesn’t matter anymore. Finally, distraction values for secondary projectiles are being modified, as Distraction chance as it has existed was never balanced around more than the main attack | ” |
| ~ Ninja Kiwi |
Affected by the Distraction rework
- 43.0
| “ | While a great early game option, Ninja generally struggles with dominant crosspathing choices and also has relatively poor base tower value. Without going into every single change, T3s onward remain relatively unchanged with a lot of prices below T3 being moved around from less favorable crosspaths into better/higher tier upgrades. [...] | ” |
| ~ Ninja Kiwi |
- Grand Saboteur base shuriken attack speed increased from 0.7s to 0.62s. Does not affect 1-5-0 (0.434s).
Bug Fixes and General Changes
 |
This section is incomplete. You can help by expanding it. |
- 35.0
- Description now partially added "Buffs all Shinobi."
Extra Notes (Version History)
- Although Version 31.0 was anticipated to have an indirect nerf to Grand Saboteur relative to Lych due to the applied buffs that this ability provides, this Grand Saboteur's activated Shinobi buff actually somehow doesn't trigger Lych.
Sounds
When activating Grand Saboteur Ability:
- [Degenerating wind blowing]
Gallery
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Not enough images! There are not enough images on this page to sufficiently complete this page or section. You can help by uploading some images related to the article's subject(s). In particular, this article needs: Images of following: Buffed Grand Sabo and buffed Shinobi. |
Official artwork
Videos
Trivia
- Grand Saboteur in Bloons TD 6 is the cheapest Tier 5 Ninja Monkey upgrade for the upgrade alone throughout all versions of the BTD6 Generation.
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