Etienne (BTD6): Difference between revisions

{{for|Etienne in general|Etienne}}

|id=Etienne

|order=11

 

|name       =Etienne

|title     =Drone Operator

|image     =BTD6 EtiennePortrait.png

|description=This high-tech hero can pursue the Bloons wherever they go with his remote controlled drone.

 

|cost       =650

|xp scale   =1.0

|cost C     =

|xp scale C =

 

|introduced =20.0

|introduced C=

|rl artifact=[[Splody Darts]] Common

'''Etienne''' is a [[Hero]] in ''[[Bloons TD 6]]'', introduced in {{BTD6 version|20.0}}. He can be unlocked for {{BTD6 mm|5000}} starting at [[level]] 25.

Etienne does not attack directly, instead controlling drones that seek out [[Bloon]]s and shoot darts at them. The drones operate similarly to [[Heli Pilot (BTD6)|Heli Pilot]]s on [[Pursuit (BTD6)|Pursuit]], being able to fly over [[line of sight]] blockers, but they can only target and pursue Bloons inside Etienne's [[range]]. Etienne starts with one drone and gains more as he levels up, up to a maximum of four at levels 19 and 20. Starting at level 8, he gains a UAV that flies around the map in a circle and grants [[Camo detection]] to all [[tower]]s, akin to a global [[Radar Scanner (BTD6)|Radar Scanner]]. His Drone Swarm ability summons four additional drones for a short time, and his UCAV ability temporarily converts the UAV into a combat vehicle that fires swarms of homing missiles. At level 20, the UAV becomes a UCAV permanently, and the ability instead increases the UCAV's [[pierce]] and [[damage]] and allows it to pop all Bloon types temporarily.

Etienne uses Drones for his attacks. Each drone moves within Etienne's attack range and will move to a random position if no targets are available, but it will attempt to move in front of the target if possible. Etienne starts with one drone and unlocks his second at level 7, his third at level 11, and his fourth at level 19. The targeting of the drones depends on Etienne's targeting and is indicated by color of the triangle-shaped light. (For [[ETn]], the color of the UFOs' eyes change, and for [[Book Wyrm]], the color of the dragons' eyes change.)

 

Targeting is assigned to the drones in the order they were unlocked. For example, on Divide and Conquer, the initial and level 11 drones target Strong, while the level 7 and level 19 drones target First.

 

 

|2

|Acquisition range increased from 55 to 60

|4

|Pierce increased from 2 to 3

|5

|Attack cooldown reduced and gains Camo detection

|7

|Gains second drone, plus the "Divide and Conquer" targeting option

|9

|Damage increased from 1 to 2

|11

|Gains third drone, plus "Zone Defense" targeting option

|12

|Pierce increased from 3 to 6, flight speed increased from 45 to 90

|14

|Damage increased from 2 to 3

|16

|Acquisition range increased from 60 to 80, pierce increased from 6 to 9.

|18

|Damage increased from 3 to 4

|19

|Gains fourth drone

Starting at Level 2, Etienne grants +10% range to all nearby towers. This buff is increased to +20% range starting from Level 18. Etienne's range buff and Village buffs can stack.<ref>[https://www.reddit.com/r/btd6/s/76VZ1X0xJJ r/btd6 comment]</ref><!--v48.1 fixed the lack of village stuff... These buffs stack with Village's range buff, however his buff does not currently stack on Monkey Villages buffed by other Villages, and is prioritized first.<ref>[https://www.reddit.com/r/btd6/s/pBuDT5C3fa r/btd6 comments by Qwertyxp2000 via images on v48.0]</ref>-->

'''UAV''' is unlocked at level 8. Etienne deploys a UAV that grants Camo detection to all towers on the map. It visually flies around the map in an anti-clockwise circle, but this is purely cosmetic when the UCAV ability is not in effect. The buff functions identically to [[Radar Scanner (BTD6)|Radar Scanner]] and can be disabled by [[Phayze]].

'''Drone Swarm''' is unlocked at Level 3. Etienne spawns four additional drones that have a short delay before they start moving and attacking and last for a short time. These drones share the same behavior and stats as the permanent drones at Etienne's current level, but have their own targeting settings that cannot be changed: one is on First, one is on Last, and two are on Strong. These drones last longer as Etienne levels up, initially lasting for 18.5 seconds at level 3 and increasing by 0.5 seconds per level, up to 27 seconds at level 20. The ability has a cooldown of 80 seconds, which reduces to 55 seconds at level 6 and 50 seconds at level 16.

'''UCAV''' is unlocked at level 10. It transforms the UAV into a combat drone that launches volleys of homing missiles for 18 seconds. It initially fires 10 missiles in a circle around itself every 0.6 seconds, and each missile deals 2 [[Damage type|explosion-type]] [[damage]] over a small [[projectile size|blast radius]] that can hit up to 25 Bloons at a time. The missiles target First and can target and hit [[Camo Bloon (BTD6)|Camo Bloon]]s. It has a 90-second cooldown, which reduces to 75 seconds at level 13. At level 15, the duration is increased to 20 seconds and the missiles' pierce is increased to 30 and damage is increased to 4, and at level 17, the damage is further increased to 7.

 

At level 20, the UAV is permanently replaced with the UCAV with its stats at level 10. The UCAV ability instead increases the missiles' damage to 12 and allows them to pop all Bloon types for 20 seconds. It does not restore its pierce at levels 15-19.

{{BTD6 hero levels

|level 1 =Flies a deadly little drone around to shoot at the Bloons.

|level 2 =Etienne's range increased and Monkeys in radius get 10% more range.

|level 3 =Drone Swarm: Etienne launches 4 more temporary drones to wreak some Bloon popping havoc.

|level 3 ability=BTD6 Etienne DroneSwarmAA.png

|level 4 =Drones increase in popping power.

|level 5 =Drone increased attack speed and infrared camera allows shooting of Camo Bloons.

|level 6 =Drone Swarm ability cooldown reduced.

|level 7 =Etienne now controls 2 drones at once.

|level 8 =UAV: all Monkeys gain Camo Bloon detection.

|level 9 =Drones pop an extra Bloon layer.

|level 10=UCAV: high altitude surveillance drone becomes devastating combat drone for a short time.

|level 10 ability=BTD6 Etienne UcavAA.png

|level 11=Etienne gains a third drone to control.

|level 12=Drone upgrades! Increased popping power and flight speed.

|level 13=UCAV ability cooldown reduced.

|level 14=Drones damage increased greatly.

|level 15=UCAV damage output and duration greatly increased.

|level 16=Etienne's range, drone popping power, and Drone Swarm cooldown all improved. Monkeys in radius get 20% more range.

|level 17=UCAV damage output greatly increased again!

|level 18=Drone damage increased.

|level 19=Etienne now controls four drones all the time!

|level 20=Perma-UCAV: Surveillance drone becomes permanent UCAV. When activated becomes more powerful for a short time and can pop all Bloon types.

 

|last updated=43.3

}}

{{BTD6 last updated|section=y|50.1}}

Etienne's main asset is in the mid-game with his UCAV ability, saving up for a Tier 5 while also offering consistent extra range and global camo detection. Despite its strong mid-game, UCAV has a long cooldown and has a tendency to chase stray Black Bloons that it cannot pop (until level 20's ability). Regardless, his mid-game saveups are outclassed by the capabilities of several other Heroes, such as {{BTD6|Corvus}} and {{BTD6|Rosalia}}. Past Round 80, Etienne is sub-par, as Perma-UCAV is consistently blocked by Bloons, isn't particularly powerful, and prevents stalling. His most significant weakness is his early-game, as his drones are extremely weak without Drone Swarm, which has a long cooldown and still has reliability issues when activated.

His Level 8 UAV grants all towers Camo detection, which is a decent quality-of-life improvement, and also genuinely beneficial in [[Contested Territory (BTD6)|Contested Territory]] Least Tiers tiles, though it is usually insignificant due to {{BTD6|Radar Scanner}} only costing $3,000 and being an integral part of any defense when bought with {{BTD6|Jungle Drums}}.

The range buff to towers does assist strategies that depend on high range, such as [[Desperado (BTD6)|Desperado]]'s top and middle paths, but still only a minor benefit that isn't notable enough to be worth revolving a strategy around.

Many other Heroes outclass Etienne, granting >$30,000 value near max level without much of his downsides and minor upsides. Therefore he is considered by the Expert BTD6 community to be the worst Hero in BTD6. He lacks notable synergies with any specific tower, particularly because certain Heroes already overlap with his benefits (e.g. [[Geraldo (BTD6)|Geraldo]]'s [[See Invisibility Potion|Camo Potion]]). He has very limited value in competitive events outside of his global Camo buff, and it<!--the global camo buff--> is useless against [[Phayze]].

==Update history==

{{BTD6 change list by name|Etienne}}

{{screenshot needed}}