Merchantman (BTD6)

For the upgrade in Bloons TD Battles 2, see Merchantman (Battles 2).

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Merchantman

	Generates cash each round automatically, and deals more damage when over 10,000 saved cash.

Tower		Path	Tier
Monkey Buccaneer		3	3

XP cost	3,100
Cash cost	$2,040 — Easy $2,400 — Medium $2,590 — Hard $2,880 — Impoppable

← Crow's Nest

Favored Trades →

Merchantman is the Monkey Buccaneer's path 3 tier 3 upgrade in Bloons TD 6. It generates $200 at the end of each round automatically ($220 with Trade Agreements). It gains +10% cash production per Central Market (up to +100%). Additionally, its base damage is increased by ×2 if the player's cash is at least $10,000; in Co-op, only the owner's cash determines the damage buff of the Merchantman.

If buffed by Trade Empire, it gains +$10 cash production per Merchantman (stacking up to 20 times in total), +1 damage, +1 Ceramic damage, and +1 MOAB damage to all attacks. If there are Favored Trades on screen, Trade Empire will prioritize buffs to these towers first, which have stronger cash production.

Stats

For a complete list of Monkey Buccaneer stats, see Stats:Monkey Buccaneer (BTD6).

This data was last updated for: version 55.1

Tower
Display range 71 units Footprint radius 8 units Cash per round $200 Targeting options First Last Close Strong Camo Prioritization

Attack
Copies of this attack 2 Cooldown 1s Offset (X, Y, Z) 11, 0, 8.87 (main) -11, 0, 8.77 (alt) Targeting Depends on targeting option Targeting range 71 units
Projectile Pierce 6 Damage 1 Damage type Sharp Speed 250 units/s Lifespan 0.6s Radius 4 units

Cash-based buff ($10,000+)
Damage modifier ×2

1-0-3

Attack
Cooldown 1s → 0.75s

2-0-3

Attack
Projectile Count 2

0-1-3

Grape attack
Copies of this attack 2 Cooldown 1.3s Offset (X, Y, Z) 11, 0, 8.87 (main) -11, 0, 8.77 (alt) Targeting Depends on targeting option Targeting range 71 units
Projectile Count 5 Angle 90° Pierce 2 Damage 1 Damage type Sharp Speed 250 units/s Lifespan 0.5s Radius 2 units

0-2-3

Grape attack
Projectile Damage type Sharp → Fire Damage over time Damage 2 Damage type Fire Duration 3.1s Interval 1.5s Layers ∞

Costs and sell values

Note: this list does not factor in Monkey Knowledge or other discounts.

Tiers	Total cost				Sell value
	Easy	Medium	Hard	Impoppable	Easy	Medium	Hard	Impoppable
0-0-3	$2,845	$3,350	$3,615	$4,020	$2,106	$2,479	$2,676	$2,975
1-0-3	$3,080	$3,625	$3,910	$4,350	$2,280	$2,683	$2,894	$3,219
2-0-3	$3,440	$4,050	$4,370	$4,860	$2,546	$2,997	$3,234	$3,597
0-1-3	$3,310	$3,900	$4,210	$4,680	$2,450	$2,886	$3,116	$3,464
0-2-3	$3,735	$4,400	$4,750	$5,280	$2,764	$3,256	$3,515	$3,908

Strategy

This section was last updated for: version 55.2

Merchantman offers automatic cash generation that is hassle-free but fairly efficient at both defense and income. It stands out particularly as part of a Trade Empire army when there's enough water for up to 20 Merchantmen. Compared to Favored Trades, Merchantmen synergize better with Trade Agreements and can be fully discounted by Monkey Commerce, making them overall more efficient at raw income and better to begin for maximizing Trade Empire. Trade Empire becomes worth it after 16 Merchantmen, and 10 Central Markets (purchased while upgrading the Merchantmen to Favored Trades) are recommended for maximizing income after 20 Merchantmen have been purchased.

Crosspaths with Grape Shot and Hot Shot can be added if extra DPS and/or lead-popping are required. However, it's preferable not to crosspath Merchantman if its only purpose is income. The Faster Shooting and Double Shot crosspaths are inferior compared to the higher-pierce grapes.

Outside of snowballing income, the cash-based damage boost is poor, and its damage boosts are irrelevant outside of a Trade Empire strategy. For a similar cost, other options that are more buffable, such as Cannon Ship, are preferred.

Update history

For a complete list of Monkey Buccaneer changes, see Update history:Monkey Buccaneer (BTD6).

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Version 21.0

•  Now increases projectile speed of all attacks by 25%

Version 22.0

•  Overall cost reduced by $50 (due to cost changes for previous tiers)

Version 28.0

“

Bottom crosspath feels behind compared to others here, so in addition to the new Camo Prioritization filter Longer Range on this path will now also grant bonus pierce. — Update notes

”

•  Camo Prioritization filter added
•  Long Range increases pierce of darts (including aircraft darts) and grapes by +1

1-0-3, 2-0-3, 0-1-3, 0-2-3

•  Long Range increases pierce of darts (including aircraft darts) and grapes by +1

Version 36.0

•  Overall cost reduced by $30 (due to cost changes for previous tiers)

Version 38.0

“

Small tweaks to Buccaneer’s Long Range upgrade to improve its additional pierce benefit for a number of attacks. — Update notes

”

•  Main attack: Pierce increased ― 5 → 6

Version 43.0

•  Upgrade cost increased ― $2,300 → $2,400
  •  Overall cost is unchanged (due to cost changes for previous tiers)

Version 51.0

0-1-3, 0-2-3

•  Grape attack: Pierce increased ― 1 → 2 (bug fix)

Version 55.0

“

Buccaneer’s Merchantmen path will now gain a damage bonus based on how much spare cash you have on-hand. This introduces a fun trade-off where you can choose to hold onto cash for a combat boost at the cost of losing advantage from immediately snowballing into more economy. It’s kinda neat — Update notes

”

•  Now gains a ×2 damage modifier when the player has over $10,000 cash
• Description changed:

Before	After
Generates cash each round automatically.	Generates cash each round automatically, and deals more damage when over 10,000 saved cash.

Gallery

For more Monkey Buccaneer images, see Gallery:Monkey Buccaneer.

Screenshots

• 
  Merchantman with no crosspath
• 
  Merchantman with 013 crosspath
• 
  Merchantman with 023 crosspath
• 
  Merchantman with 103 crosspath
• 
  Merchantman with 203 crosspath

Assets

• 
  Portrait
• 
  Upgrade icon
• 
  Insta Monkey icon

In other languages

Language	Name / Description	Notes
Arabic	تاجر إنتاج النقد كل جولة تلقائيًا.	—
Danish	Handelsskib Genererer automatisk penge hver runde.	—
German	Handelsschiff Generiert automatisch jede Runde Geld.	—
Spanish	Buque mercante Genera dinero en cada ronda de forma automática.	—
Spanish (LA)	Buque mercante Genera dinero en cada ronda de forma automática.	—
Finnish	Kauppias Generoi käteistä joka kierroksella automaattisesti.	—
French	Navire de commerce Génère de l'argent à chaque manche, automatiquement.	—
Italian	Mercantile Genera automaticamente contante in ogni round.	—
Japanese	商人 各ラウンドで自動的にキャッシュを作り出す。	—
Korean	상인 라운드마다 자동으로 캐시를 생산합니다.	—
Dutch	Koopvaardijschip Genereert elke ronde automatisch geld.	—
Norwegian	Handelsmann Genererer penger hver runde automatisk.	—
Polish	Kupiec Automatycznie generuje gotówkę w każdej rundzie.	—
Portuguese (Brazil)	Navio Mercante Gera dinheiro automaticamente a cada rodada.	—
Russian	Торговое судно Автоматически генерирует деньги каждый раунд.	—
Swedish	Handelsfartyg Alstrar pengar varje runda automatiskt.	—
Thai	คนค้าขาย สร้างเงินสดในแต่ละรอบโดยอัตโนมัติ	—
Turkish	Tüccar Her turda otomatik olarak nakit oluşturur.	—
Chinese (simplified)	商船 每回合自动生成现金。	—
Chinese (traditional)	商船 每回合自動生成現金。	—
This list was last updated for: version 43.1