Etienne (BTD6)

For Etienne in general, see Etienne.

Etienne
Drone Operator

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

Cost	$555 — Easy $650 — Medium $700 — Hard $780 — Impoppable With Hero Favors: $495 — Easy $585 — Medium $630 — Hard $700 — Impoppable
XP curve	×1.0 (levels up at ×1 the normal rate)
Rogue Legends party	0-0-2  0-0-2
Introduced	Version 20.0

Etienne is a Hero in Bloons TD 6, introduced in version 20.0. He can be unlocked for  5,000 starting at level 25.

Etienne does not attack directly, instead controlling drones that seek out Bloons and shoot darts at them. The drones operate similarly to Heli Pilots on 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 2, he grants extra range to nearby towers. This buff is improved starting at level 16.
• Starting at level 5, he gains Camo detection.
• Starting at level 8, he gains a UAV that flies around the map in a circle and grants Camo detection to all towers, akin to a global Radar Scanner.
• He has two Activated Abilities:
  • Drone Swarm (level 3) — Summons four additional drones for a short time.
  • UCAV (level 10) — 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.

Mechanics

Drones

Etienne uses a drone sub-tower to attack Bloons for him. Unlike other flying sub-towers, the drone can only target Bloons inside Etienne's range of 55 units. If there are any Bloons within Etienne's range, the drone will attempt to position itself in front of its targets, similar to Pursuit. If there are no visible targets within Etienne's range, the drone will move around his range at random. The drone attacks its target by shooting darts with 2 pierce every 0.7 seconds that deal 1 sharp-type damage. The drones' targeting ignores line of sight and their shots can travel over blockers.

Etienne controls multiple drones at a time at higher levels. Which Bloons they target depends on Etienne's current targeting setting:

• First — all on First
• Divide And Conquer — Strong, First, Strong, First (unlocked at level 7)
• Zone Defense — First, Strong, Last, Close (unlocked at level 11)

Drones are assigned these targeting options in the order they are unlocked. The targeting of a drone is indicated by the color of its light (for ETn, the color of the UFOs' eyes change, and for Book Wyrm, the color of the dragons' eyes change):

• Blue: First
• Green: Last
• Purple: Close
• Yellow: Strong

Levels

Level	Effect
2	Acquisition range increases to 60 units.
4	Pierce increases to 3.
5	Attack cooldown reduces to 0.55 seconds, effectively increasing attack speed by roughly 27%. Etienne and his drones gain Camo detection.
7	Etienne gains a second drone and unlocks Divide and Conquer targeting.
9	Damage increases to 2.
11	Etienne gains a third drone and unlocks Zone Defense targeting.
12	Pierce increases to 6. Flight speed, rotation speed, and deceleration doubles.
14	Damage increases to 3.
16	Pierce increases to 9. Acquisition range increases to 80 units.
18	Damage increases to 4.
19	Etienne gains a fourth drone.

Range buff

Etienne range buff

Starting at Level 2, Etienne grants +10% range to all nearby towers. This buff is increased to +20% range starting from Level 16.

UAV

UAV unlocks 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 and can be disabled by Phayze.

Abilities

Drone Swarm

Drone Swarm unlocks at level 3. It spawns four additional drones that have a short delay before they start moving and attacking. 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).

This ability has a cooldown of 80 seconds. At level 6, it reduces to 55 seconds, and at level 16, it reduces to 50 seconds.

UCAV

UCAV unlocks at level 10. It transforms the UAV into a combat drone that fires a volley 10 seeking missiles every 0.6 seconds, with a 240° spread, for 12 seconds. It has infinite range, ignores line of sight, has Camo detection, and always targets First. Each missile's explosion has 25 pierce, deals 2 explosion-type damage, and has a 20-unit radius. It has a 90-second cooldown.

Levels

Level	Effect
13	Ability cooldown reduces to 75 seconds.
15	Explosion damage increases to 4. Explosion pierce increases to 30. Ability duration increases to 20 seconds.
17	Explosion damage increases to 7.
20	The UCAV becomes permanent, but with the stats it had at levels 13–14. Activating the ability now increases its explosion damage by 12 and allows it to damage all Bloon types for the duration.

Levels

Level	Description
1	Flies a deadly little drone around to shoot at the Bloons.
2	Etienne's range increased and Monkeys in radius get 10% more range.
3	Drone Swarm: Etienne launches 4 more temporary drones to wreak some Bloon popping havoc.
4	Drones increase in popping power.
5	Drone increased attack speed and infrared camera allows shooting of Camo Bloons.
6	Drone Swarm ability cooldown reduced.
7	Etienne now controls 2 drones at once.
8	UAV: all Monkeys gain Camo Bloon detection.
9	Drones pop an extra Bloon layer.
10	UCAV: high altitude surveillance drone becomes devastating combat drone for a short time.
11	Etienne gains a third drone to control.
12	Drone upgrades! Increased popping power and flight speed.
13	UCAV ability cooldown reduced.
14	Drones damage increased greatly.
15	UCAV damage output and duration greatly increased.
16	Etienne's range, drone popping power, and Drone Swarm cooldown all improved. Monkeys in radius get 20% more range.
17	UCAV damage output greatly increased again!
18	Drone damage increased.
19	Etienne now controls four drones all the time!
20	Perma-UCAV: Surveillance drone becomes permanent UCAV. When activated becomes more powerful for a short time and can pop all Bloon types.

XP requirements

Note: the number of rounds to level up assumes the Hero is placed on round 1 and no other Heroes are placed.

Level	XP required	Rounds to level up				Rounds to level up w/
		Beginner	Intermediate	Advanced	Expert	Beginner	Intermediate	Advanced	Expert
2	180 (180)	3 (3)	3 (3)	3 (3)	3 (3)	—	—	—	—
3	460 (640)	4 (7)	4 (7)	3 (6)	3 (6)	—	—	—	—
4	1,000 (1,640)	5 (12)	4 (11)	5 (11)	4 (10)	8 (8)	8 (8)	7 (7)	7 (7)
5	1,860 (3,500)	6 (18)	6 (17)	5 (16)	5 (15)	6 (14)	6 (14)	6 (13)	5 (12)
6	3,280 (6,780)	7 (25)	7 (24)	7 (23)	7 (22)	7 (21)	6 (20)	6 (19)	7 (19)
7	5,180 (11,960)	7 (32)	6 (30)	6 (29)	6 (28)	7 (28)	7 (27)	7 (26)	6 (25)
8	8,320 (20,280)	8 (40)	8 (38)	8 (37)	7 (35)	8 (36)	7 (34)	7 (33)	7 (32)
9	9,380 (29,660)	7 (47)	7 (45)	6 (43)	7 (42)	6 (42)	6 (40)	6 (39)	6 (38)
10	13,620 (43,280)	8 (55)	8 (53)	8 (51)	7 (49)	8 (50)	8 (48)	7 (46)	6 (44)
11	16,380 (59,660)	7 (62)	6 (59)	7 (58)	7 (56)	6 (56)	6 (54)	7 (53)	7 (51)
12	14,400 (74,060)	5 (67)	5 (64)	4 (62)	5 (61)	5 (61)	5 (59)	4 (57)	5 (56)
13	16,650 (90,710)	5 (72)	5 (69)	5 (67)	4 (65)	5 (66)	5 (64)	5 (62)	4 (60)
14	14,940 (105,650)	4 (76)	4 (73)	4 (71)	4 (69)	4 (70)	3 (67)	3 (65)	3 (63)
15	16,380 (122,030)	4 (80)	4 (77)	4 (75)	3 (72)	3 (73)	4 (71)	4 (69)	4 (67)
16	17,820 (139,850)	4 (84)	4 (81)	3 (78)	4 (76)	4 (77)	3 (74)	3 (72)	3 (70)
17	19,260 (159,110)	4 (88)	4 (85)	4 (82)	4 (80)	4 (81)	4 (78)	4 (76)	3 (73)
18	20,700 (179,810)	4 (92)	3 (88)	4 (86)	3 (83)	3 (84)	3 (81)	3 (79)	4 (77)
19	16,470 (196,280)	3 (95)	3 (91)	2 (88)	3 (86)	3 (87)	3 (84)	3 (82)	2 (79)
20	17,280 (213,560)	3 (98)	3 (94)	3 (91)	3 (89)	3 (90)	3 (87)	2 (84)	3 (82)

Strategy

For more in-depth strategies, see Strategy:Etienne (BTD6).

This section was last updated for: version 50.2

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, can get blocked with bad positioning, 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 Corvus and 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 Least Tiers tiles. However, Radar Scanner, which also grants Camo detection, is an integral part of any defense when bought with Jungle Drums, and doesn't cost much to purchase.

The range buff to towers does assist strategies that depend on high range, such as Desperado's top and middle paths, but still only a minor benefit that isn't notable enough to be worth revolving a strategy around. Striker Jones offers a smaller range buff but provides extra pierce.

Many other Heroes outclass Etienne, granting significantly more 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's Camo Potion). He has very limited value in competitive events outside of his global Camo buff, and it is useless against Phayze.

Update history

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Version 21.0

“

While he has been highly underrated, we wanted to fit in a few quality of life tweaks to add overall nicety and smoothen progression.
— Update notes

”

Levels	Changes
3+	Drone Swarm: base duration increased ― 15s → 17s Note: Level 3 now lasts 18.5s  Drone Swarm: now increases in duration by +0.5s per level
16	Drone Swarm: Lv16 no longer increases duration Note: Duration remains unchanged at 25s
20	UCAV: duration increased ― 15s → 20s  UCAV: deals normal damage for buff duration

Version 23.0

“

Etienne’s main power through mid-to-endgame intentionally comes from his UCAV, however it still overperforms and needs to be pulled back a bit.
— Update notes

”

Levels	Changes
10-14	UCAV: duration reduced ― 20s → 18s
15-19	UCAV: duration reduced ― 25s → 20s

Version 24.0

Levels	Changes
10+	UCAV should no longer have a footprint slightly below Etienne that blocks towers from being placed in that area (bug fix)

Version 25.0

Levels	Changes
8	Level 8 ‘camo’ unlock visual correctly displays at this level again, not level 9 (bug fix)
10+	Level 10 UCAV no longer creates a secondary ice platform when etienne is placed on frozen water (bug fix)

Version 26.0

“

We have to admit there were some mistakes not trusting ourselves as much as we should have due to lackluster initial reception of Etienne (except for you die hard Etienne fans, who we greatly appreciate). He was quickly buffed in the very next update before giving users time to settle and find out just how to use a hero who played so differently and after the resurgence in play with the ETn skin. While we still feel that those changes rather nicely sorted out quality of life issues and we took more time to avoid ping ponging him around, he clearly reigns far too supreme and needs some nerf stick. Rather than removing any of those usability changes we have decided to trim down the power of his very dominant UCAV ability.
— Update notes

”

Levels	Changes
10-14	UCAV: damage reduced ― 3 → 2
15-16	UCAV: damage reduced ― 6 → 4
17-19	UCAV: damage reduced ― 9 → 7
20	Perma-UCAV: damage reduced ― 3 → 2  UCAV ability: damage reduced ― 12 → 10

Version 34.0

Levels	Changes
3+	Drone Swarm: Now has a forced expiration after the drone swarm duration +10s to prevent them getting stuck (bug fix)

Version 38.0

“

Because it didn’t really matter before, but guess it kinda does now.
— Update notes

”

Levels	Changes
10+	UCAV: Can now naturally detect Camo Bloons

Version 43.0

“

Etienne's drones are prone to missing due to very low projectile speed, this speed is increasing a fair amount to help with this as drones already have an inability to directionally aim well.
— Update notes

”

Levels	Changes
All	Faster projectile speed for all drones ― 150 → 250  Etienne should no longer consume the ‘Box of Monkey’ Relic Knowledge (bug fix)

Version 46.0

“

Etienne's final level activated UCAV power is being increased
— Update notes

”

Levels	Changes
20	UCAV: Missile damage increased ― 10 → 12

Version 47.3

Levels	Changes
10+	Fixed an issue where Etienne's Level 8 UAV wasn’t applying camo detection to towers when the UCAV ability is active (bug fix)

Version 48.0

• Etienne Level 2 description changed ― Etienne's range increased. → Etienne's range increased and Monkeys in radius get 10% more range.
• Etienne Level 16 description changed ― Etienne's range, drone popping power, and Drone Swarm cooldown all improved. → Etienne's range, drone popping power, and Drone Swarm cooldown all improved. Monkeys in radius get 20% more range.

“

We don't have a general large range buff focus hero, and this really feels like it fits Etienne’s character well, so it sounded fun.
— Update notes

”

Levels	Changes
2-15	All towers in range of Etienne gain +10% range
16+	All towers in range of Etienne gain +20% range

Version 48.1

Levels	Changes
2+	Range buff icon changed to Etienne's face instead of the the Village icon (undocumented)

Version 49.0

“

As Etienne’s Drone power level is designed to be lower, his starting cost is being reduced so that he is able to come online earlier
— Update notes

”

Levels	Changes
All	Placement cost reduced ― $850 → $650

Version 50.0

Levels	Changes
20	Should no longer create multiple UCAV when his attack speed is increased or the UCAV ability is clicked one frame after reaching Level 20 (bug fix)

Cosmetic items

Hero Skins

• 
  ETn
• 
  Book Wyrm

Trophy Store items

Item	Category	Unlock method(s)	Introduced
Etienne Roomba Pet	Heroes — Pets	Trophy Store —  100, Pets Fan Pack (IAP)	Version 26.0

Gallery

For more Etienne images, see Gallery:Etienne.

Screenshots

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Assets

• 
  Levels 1–2
• 
  Levels 3–6
• 
  Levels 7–9
• 
  Levels 10–19
• 
  Level 20
• 
  Round icon
• 
  Square icon
• 
  Drone Swarm icon
• 
  UCAV icon
• 
  Etienne's range buff icon
• 
  UAV buff icon

Voice lines

When selected in the Heroes menu

• ^ⓘ "Ready to fly!"

When placed

• ^ⓘ "Ready to fly!"
• ^ⓘ "Here we go!"

When selected

• ^ⓘ "Oui ?" ("Yes?")
• ^ⓘ "Hey!"
• ^ⓘ "Systems, check!"
• ^ⓘ "Objective?"
• ^ⓘ "Eyes up!"
• ^ⓘ "Oui ?"

When selected repeatedly

• ^ⓘ "You want me to do this, or not?"
• ^ⓘ "No distractions!"

When activating Drone Swarm

• ^ⓘ "Swarm deployed!"

When activating UCAV

• ^ⓘ "Weapons hot!"

When leveling up

• ^ⓘ "Yeah!"
• ^ⓘ "Oui !" ("Yes!")
• ^ⓘ "Oui !"
• ^ⓘ "C'est beau !" ("That's beautiful!")
• ^ⓘ "C'est beau !"
• ^ⓘ "Upgrade time!"
• ^ⓘ "Drone power!"
• ^ⓘ "Yeah!"

When leveling up to level 20

• ^ⓘ "That's some serious damage!"

When a MOAB appears

• ^ⓘ "Tracking MOAB!"

When a BFB appears

• ^ⓘ "Tracking BFB!"

When a ZOMG appears

• ^ⓘ "Tracking ZOMG!"

When a DDT appears

• ^ⓘ "DDT! DDT!"

When a BAD appears

• ^ⓘ "Heads up! Tracking BAD!"

When a MOAB-Class Bloon is destroyed

• ^ⓘ "Adieu !" ("Farewell!")
• ^ⓘ "How it's done!"

When a Bloon leaks

• ^ⓘ "Eyes on that exit!"
• ^ⓘ "C'est la guerre !" ("That's war!")

In other languages

This section was last updated for: version 48.0

Name

Language	Text	Notes
Arabic	إتيان	—
Danish	Etienne	—
German	Etienne	—
Spanish	Etienne	—
Spanish (Latin America)	Etienne	—
Finnish	Etienne	—
French	Etienne	—
Italian	Etienne	—
Japanese	エティエンヌ	—
Korean	에티엔	—
Dutch	Etienne	—
Norwegian	Etienne	—
Polish	Etienne	—
Portuguese (Brazil)	Etienne	—
Russian	Этьен	—
Swedish	Etienne	—
Thai	เอเตียน	—
Turkish	Etienne	—
Chinese (simplified)	艾蒂安	—
Chinese (traditional)	埃蒂安	—

Description

Language	Text	Notes
Arabic	يمكن لهذا البطل ذو التقنية العالية أن يلاحق البالونات أينما ذهبوا بطائرته المسيرة التي يتم التحكم فيها عن بعد.	—
Danish	Denne hi-tech helt kan jagte bloons overalt med sin fjernstyrede drone.	—
German	Dieser High-Tech-Held kann den Bloons mit seiner ferngesteuerten Drohne überall hin folgen.	—
Spanish	Este héroe tecnológico puede perseguir a los bloons con su dron a control remoto.	—
Spanish (Latin America)	Este héroe tecnológico puede perseguir a los bloons con su dron a control remoto.	—
Finnish	Tämä korkeatekninen sankari voi jahdata blooneja minne tahansa kauko-ohjatulla droonillaan.	—
French	Ce héros haute technologie peut pourchasser les Bloons partout où ils se rendent grâce à son drone télécommandé.	—
Italian	Questo eroe all'avanguardia può inseguire ovunque i bloon grazie al suo drone telecomandato.	—
Japanese	このハイテクヒーローは、リモコンドローンでどこからでもブルーンを追跡できる。	—
Korean	원격 조종 드론으로 풍선이 어디에 있든 추격하는 첨단 기술을 사용하는 영웅입니다.	—
Dutch	Deze hightech held kan Bloons overal volgen met zijn op afstand bestuurbare drone.	—
Norwegian	Denne høyteknologiske helten kan forfølge bloons hvor enn de går med den fjernstyrte dronen sin.	—
Polish	Ten technologiczny bohater może podążać za blonami za pomocą zdalnie sterowanego drona.	—
Portuguese (Brazil)	Esse herói tecnológico pode perseguir os Bloons em qualquer lugar com este drone controlado remotamente.	—
Russian	Разбирающийся в высоких технологиях герой с помощью дронов может преследовать шары где угодно.	—
Swedish	Denna högteknologiska hjälte kan följa Bloons var de än tar vägen med sin fjärrstyrda drönare.	—
Thai	ฮีโร่ไฮเทคผู้นี้สามารถติดตามบลูนไปได้ทุกที่ด้วยโดรนควบคุมระยะไกล	—
Turkish	Bu yüksek teknolojili kahraman uzaktan kumandalı dronuyla Bloon’ları gittikleri her yerde takip edebilir.	—
Chinese (simplified)	此高科技英雄可遥控它的无人机追杀气球到天涯海角。	—
Chinese (traditional)	這位技術高超的英雄可以使用遠程控制的無人機追踪氣球的位置。	—