User:JoelTheParrot/Sandbox

Airburst Darts

Header includes:

"being increased to 5 pierce per dart with the Barbed Darts upgrade"

after existing "However, they instantly split into 3 airburst projectiles upon impact that each each deal 1 damage with 2 pierce"

New Strategy section implemented:

The Airburst Darts upgrade's increase to Monkey Sub's popping power is generally good for transitioning to handling heavier eco Bloon sends in the earlygame such as Spaced White Bloons and Spaced Black Bloons since it does triple the effective damage with its attack. Airburst Darts is a big step-up in power against MOAB-Class targets since they are large enough to take 4 hits from each attack, or 3 hits for additional MOAB-Class Bloons that were not impacted by the initial darts. It has a strong crosspath benefit to assist the slower Ballistic Missile attack on the x3x Monkey Sub since the dart attack rate is quick. As a crosspath for Submerge and Support, it increases its reliability at decamoing Bloons, which is mainly needed for maps where the Monkey Sub's natural range has poor coverage, such as Off-Tide, and the increase on attack speed for the Bloontonium Reactor is very beneficial to its total popping power.

While it is technically a sidegrade since the homing stops after the first target is hit in favour of the split dart, the powerful increase in stats means that performance issues compared to the Twin Guns Monkey Sub are negligible. It can utilize its pierce better in a situation where Bloons will be behind the targeted Bloon compared to the Monkey Sub. For example, it will be targeted on last in the earlygame on some maps such as Star or Magma Mixup. If a Monkey Sub is mainly being used to catch leaks in the earlygame, however, it may be more efficient to keep it at Twin Guns, with defensive issues being covered with other, cheaper tactics, such as upgrading the core defense or placing another base Sub. Airburst Darts is fairly expensive for that job. You also don't usually need Airburst Darts if you are using Monkey Sub to pop off a single layer in earlygame, such as popping Black Bloons for Captain Churchill or Sentai Churchill, since the reliably homing shots are generally superior for the job unless you are popping multiple layers off, such as with Zebra Bloons.

An Airburst Darts Monkey Sub generally prefers the middle crosspath since the Barbed Darts upgrade increases the pierce of its three darts each from 2 to 5, which is a grand increase in total popping power. You can also use this crosspath to get popping power for frozen and lead Bloons if needed since it upgrades into Heat-Tipped Darts. The benefits of top path include more coverage and the ability to hit Camo Bloons in the range of Monkeys who already detect Camo Bloons, as well as building into the Submerge and Support and further upgrades. More coverage is mainly beneficial to damage against a single target, such as MOAB-Class Bloons. Since the Monkey Sub serves a powerful decamo role, its camo detection using Advanced Intel is not helpful in most strategies and is very unreliable on its own.

Airburst Darts benefits heavily from damage buffs due to its increased projectile count per attack and high attack rate being balanced out by low base damage per projectile. In situations where Alchemist and Monkey Sub are used in a loadout together, Airburst Darts also has efficient uptime with the Berserker Brew buff since it only uses one attack per four projectiles. It might not be the most efficient option in the strategy for that particular buff, though.

Twin Guns

New strategy section implemented:

The Twin Guns upgrade on the Monkey Sub is a pivotal aspect of its earlygame strength due to its rapid attack rate. It pops less total Bloons per second than the identically-priced Barbed Darts, so if it is your starting tower it is recommended to purchase Barbed Darts first, but the Twin Guns can hit a single target twice as much and more reliably, making it good at handling certain Spaced Bloon sends such as Spaced Yellow Bloons and Spaced Pink Bloons. The Barbed Darts and Twin Guns upgrades are especially strong together, increasing the Monkey Sub's total power by more than 4× for less than 3× its base cost. Due to its rapid attack speed, a Twin Guns Monkey Sub is great at cleaning up Bloons that get past a slower-attacking tower, such as a Bomb Shooter or a Monkey Buccaneer, preventing excessive leaking to the opponent's earlygame eco sends. Its fast attack speed also makes it great at activating Ice Shards when capable of popping frozen Bloons.

It is also the start of the generally preferred crosspath for both of the Monkey Sub's other paths. Submerge and Support's increased pulse rate makes it much quicker to decamo Bloons, which can be important on maps where the Monkey Sub's natural range has weak coverage such as Off-Tide. The Bloontonium Reactor benefits greatly from the easily-afforded increased attack speed. Ballistic Missile's Ballistic Missile attack is slow and unreliable on its own, so the bottom crosspath increases its attack speed while also increasing reliability with the rapid dart attacks.