Diamondback

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== Mechanics ==

=== ~~General~~ ===

=== Segments ===

Diamondback is a segmented boss consisting of a head segment, a tail segment, and 5 body segments, increased to 7 body segments for Elite Diamondback. Each segment is counted as a separate Bloon and can be independently damaged, but all of them share a single total health bar.

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=== Rattle Tail ===

Diamondback's tail segment is protected by a shield with [[Fortified Bloon (BTD6)|Fortified]] properties, represented by a secondary brown bar beneath its health bar. The health of the shield is always equal to 12.5% of Diamondback's maximum health for the current tier, including the extra health from [[Co-op (BTD6)|co-op]]. When the Rattle Tail shield is destroyed, Diamondback will be stunned for 12 seconds, and all segments take doubled damage from all attacks until the shield regenerates. While the Rattle Tail shield is disabled, the zig-zagging lines on Diamondback's health bar will turn dull, and the tail's health bar will turn bright blue and display "Vulnerable" text.

Diamondback's tail segment is protected by a shield with [[Fortified Bloon (BTD6)|Fortified]] properties, represented by a secondary brown bar beneath its health bar. The health of the shield is always equal to 12.5% of Diamondback's maximum health for the current tier, including the extra health from [[Co-op (BTD6)|co-op]]. When the Rattle Tail shield is destroyed, Diamondback will be stunned for 12 seconds, and all segments take doubled damage from all attacks until the shield regenerates. While the Rattle Tail shield is disabled, the zig-zagging lines on Diamondback's health bar will turn dull, its segments will visually crack apart, and the tail's health bar will turn bright blue and display "Vulnerable" text.

=== Scattered Bloons ===

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== Strategy ==

Diamondback is a boss that rewards planned positioning of towers with high pierce to take the greatest advantage of its body segments each independently taking damage. While damaging multiple segments at once allows high-pierce towers to do immense damage to the boss, the head deletes all projectiles that touch it, rendering head-on attacks highly ineffective. Towers are best positioned in locations where they can attack from the sides or back of the boss, or at parts of the map where Diamondback's segments will tightly bunch up or coil, maximizing the amount of segments a single projectile can hit at once. Because of the boss' multiple segments, normally unstackable damage-over-time effects have increased effectiveness, with [[Sticky Bomb (BTD6)|Sticky Bomb]]/[[Master Bomber (BTD6)|Master Bomber]] in particular being able to attach multiple simultaneous bombs to the boss and deal major damage.

Ironically, the best way to approach the Rattle Tail is to simply not engage with it at all, as its high health and full regeneration at each skull makes it hard to destroy without dealing enough collateral damage to other segments to reach the next skull threshold. In addition, the debuff will usually lead to the next skull being reached near-instantly because of the massive damage amplification, immediately regrowing the tail and causing the debuff to wear off, making the benefits short-lived and usually unnecessary compared to attacking the normal segments with piercing attacks. The importance of damaging the tail may increase during events where Boss HP or Boss Speed is increased, as the damage multiplier and fairly lengthy stun (the latter of which persists for the full duration even if Diamondback hits the next skull threshold) respectively can provide a more significant advantage.

The greatest threat, particularly in early tiers, are the [[Diamond Bloon|Diamond Bloons]] scattered by Diamondback at skull thresholds. As they require 100 hits to destroy instead of raw damage, are immune to all impairing effects, incur massive life loss when leaking, and release a Fortified Ceramic even when popped, very few early defenses are capable of handling them, with recommended ones including [[Alchemist (BTD6)|Alchemists]], top-path [[Glue Gunner (BTD6)|Glue Gunners]], and [[Overdrive (BTD6)|Overdrive]]/[[The Tack Zone (BTD6)|The Tack Zone]]. While Diamond Bloons are less of a threat in the later tiers, one must still keep a backup defense if the defense chosen to attack Diamondback relies on slow, powerful hits, such as the [[M.A.D (BTD6)|M.A.D]] or [[Ballistic Obliteration Missile Bunker]].

==Gallery==

@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 == Mechanics ==
-=== General ===
+=== Segments ===
 Diamondback is a segmented boss consisting of a head segment, a tail segment, and 5 body segments, increased to 7 body segments for Elite Diamondback. Each segment is counted as a separate Bloon and can be independently damaged, but all of them share a single total health bar.
@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 === Rattle Tail ===
-Diamondback's tail segment is protected by a shield with [[Fortified Bloon (BTD6)|Fortified]] properties, represented by a secondary brown bar beneath its health bar. The health of the shield is always equal to 12.5% of Diamondback's maximum health for the current tier, including the extra health from [[Co-op (BTD6)|co-op]]. When the Rattle Tail shield is destroyed, Diamondback will be stunned for 12 seconds, and all segments take doubled damage from all attacks until the shield regenerates. While the Rattle Tail shield is disabled, the zig-zagging lines on Diamondback's health bar will turn dull, and the tail's health bar will turn bright blue and display "Vulnerable" text.
+Diamondback's tail segment is protected by a shield with [[Fortified Bloon (BTD6)|Fortified]] properties, represented by a secondary brown bar beneath its health bar. The health of the shield is always equal to 12.5% of Diamondback's maximum health for the current tier, including the extra health from [[Co-op (BTD6)|co-op]]. When the Rattle Tail shield is destroyed, Diamondback will be stunned for 12 seconds, and all segments take doubled damage from all attacks until the shield regenerates. While the Rattle Tail shield is disabled, the zig-zagging lines on Diamondback's health bar will turn dull, its segments will visually crack apart, and the tail's health bar will turn bright blue and display "Vulnerable" text.
 === Scattered Bloons ===
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 == Strategy ==
 {{Strategy needed}}
+Diamondback is a boss that rewards planned positioning of towers with high pierce to take the greatest advantage of its body segments each independently taking damage. While damaging multiple segments at once allows high-pierce towers to do immense damage to the boss, the head deletes all projectiles that touch it, rendering head-on attacks highly ineffective. Towers are best positioned in locations where they can attack from the sides or back of the boss, or at parts of the map where Diamondback's segments will tightly bunch up or coil, maximizing the amount of segments a single projectile can hit at once. Because of the boss' multiple segments, normally unstackable damage-over-time effects have increased effectiveness, with [[Sticky Bomb (BTD6)|Sticky Bomb]]/[[Master Bomber (BTD6)|Master Bomber]] in particular being able to attach multiple simultaneous bombs to the boss and deal major damage.
+Ironically, the best way to approach the Rattle Tail is to simply not engage with it at all, as its high health and full regeneration at each skull makes it hard to destroy without dealing enough collateral damage to other segments to reach the next skull threshold. In addition, the debuff will usually lead to the next skull being reached near-instantly because of the massive damage amplification, immediately regrowing the tail and causing the debuff to wear off, making the benefits short-lived and usually unnecessary compared to attacking the normal segments with piercing attacks. The importance of damaging the tail may increase during events where Boss HP or Boss Speed is increased, as the damage multiplier and fairly lengthy stun (the latter of which persists for the full duration even if Diamondback hits the next skull threshold) respectively can provide a more significant advantage.
+The greatest threat, particularly in early tiers, are the [[Diamond Bloon|Diamond Bloons]] scattered by Diamondback at skull thresholds. As they require 100 hits to destroy instead of raw damage, are immune to all impairing effects, incur massive life loss when leaking, and release a Fortified Ceramic even when popped, very few early defenses are capable of handling them, with recommended ones including [[Alchemist (BTD6)|Alchemists]], top-path [[Glue Gunner (BTD6)|Glue Gunners]], and [[Overdrive (BTD6)|Overdrive]]/[[The Tack Zone (BTD6)|The Tack Zone]]. While Diamond Bloons are less of a threat in the later tiers, one must still keep a backup defense if the defense chosen to attack Diamondback relies on slow, powerful hits, such as the [[M.A.D (BTD6)|M.A.D]] or [[Ballistic Obliteration Missile Bunker]].
 ==Gallery==

Diamondback: Difference between revisions