Strategy:Sniper Monkey (BTD6)

This article was last updated for: version 51.2

The Sniper Monkey is a global range damage tower that deals high damage to single targets in range. Path 1 focuses on high damage and a stun effect against MOAB-Class Bloons, path 2 changes the tower's focus toward grouped damage, and path 3 increases attack speed.

General tips

• Global range means Sniper Monkeys can function on most maps, but they need line of sight to land shots. Some maps have elevated spots that can give Snipers open sight lines, such as Water Park's lifeguard seat. Snipers generally fall into a more supporting role late game, and are hard to use as primary damage there.
• If using the middle crosspath, put Snipers facing into approaching Bloons to maximize shrapnel damage.

Base

At base (0-0-0), Snipers are strong against single or spaced Greens such as on rounds 6 or 8, but weak against dense clumps such as round 10. A Dart + Sniper start works on many maps, most notably Geared and Muddy Puddles. Since its overall damage output is low, it cannot handle a lane in split lane maps, making a Dart + Sniper start impossible on Bloody Puddles.

While the Sniper never wastes pierce, it can waste damage if it targets a Red. Generally Snipers should be left on Strong to maximize damage and whittle down threats, then switch to First if it needs to clean up leaks. Last is also used when starting Muddy Puddles to feed more bloons to the Dart Monkey before the defense gets overwhelmed.

Spamming Snipers is better than upgrading them early on, with Geared especially getting up to 4 base Snipers before buying a better defense. If a Sniper is used early on, Full Metal Jacket and Night Vision Goggles are cheap options for hitting Lead and Camo.

Upgrades

Path 1

Focuses on increased damage. x-0-2 crosspaths are more consistent during mid-game to snipe key targets, but x-2-0 does more group damage and can give area stun late game, which is generally more valuable.

• 1-x-x Full Metal Jacket is a cheap damage increase that pops Leads. The extra damage can be useful early game if it avoids overkilling Bloons.
• 3-x-x Deadly Precision oneshots Ceramics with global range, which can potentially instakill the final Bloon in a Race Event. It can also handle the r40 MOAB and Ceramics in the 40s, but struggles against dense rounds.
• 4-x-x Maim MOAB is a global range blimp stalling tower. It is expensive for mid-game, but can stall and pop blimps there and in late game. Pair with Berserker Brew and perhaps Elite Sniper. Low stun duration means it struggles against DDTs on round 95, necessitating another stall tower such as Bloon Sabotage. In Least Cash Boss Events, set on Last, it can stall rounds during the boss to avoid dealing with dangerous 120+ rounds.
• 5-x-x Cripple MOAB is an expensive damage debuff for BADs and Bosses, being too expensive and too weak to see much use in CHIMPS. Its debuff is very powerful, however, and it is always useful in these cases. The debuff has low duration, so without heavy attack speed boosting, 5-0-2 is preferred.

Path 2

• x-1-x Night Vision Goggles can pop the Camo Green on 24 and the Yellows on 33.
• x-2-x Shrapnel Shot gives extra group damage, which is powerful, if it can maximize its pierce. Useless against tough single targets like r40, and reliant on shrapnel flying into Bloons behind it.
• x-3-x Bouncing Bullet is an early game and mid-game crowd control option. Use with Berserker Brew for Lead popping and triple damage. Useless against tough single targets like r40, but shrapnel follows the bounce, making positioning less important. Can be spammed for late game damage with Elite Sniper and Geraldo, but is quite weak in this role.
• x-4-x Supply Drop gives weak cash generation by itself, requiring stalling to be effective while making that stalling harder with its global damage. Generally only used as a stepping stone to Elite Sniper.
• x-5-x Elite Sniper is a relatively cheap T5 for mid-game that handles bloon rushes well but struggles against blimps. Pair with Maim or Cripple MOAB for the extra damage and stun uptime. Its speed buff is core to late game Bouncing Bullet spam, while its money generation is a nice bonus outside of CHIMPS.

Bottom crosspath is cheaper and stronger with a full Alchemist buff, making 0-3-2 generally better. The top crosspath does more damage with low AMD uptime, however, which favors 2-5-0 Elite Sniper.

Path 3

Path 3 is generally overshadowed by path 2 dealing the same damage over a group for cheaper and with better buff uptime, but it does get better single target damage and is more consistent against spaced Bloons. This path prefers top crosspath as a result, unless a Permanent Brew is available.

Elite Defender is a popular option for tier 1 Bosses and rounds like 97 and 100, being cheap and easy to use. It competes with The Blazing Sun, which does more damage but with limited range.