Tsar Bomba (BTD6)

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

Tsar Bomba

A very, very large bomb. Someone put a stop to this craziness!

Tower	Monkey Ace — Path 2 — Tier 5
XP cost	30,000
Cash cost	$22,100 — Easy $26,000 — Medium $28,080 — Hard $31,200 — Impoppable With Aeronautic Subsidy: $19,890 — Easy $23,400 — Medium $25,270 — Hard $28,080 — Impoppable

← Ground Zero

Goliath Doomship →

Tsar Bomba is the Monkey Ace's path 2 tier 5 upgrade in Bloons TD 6. This upgrade significantly improves the Bomber Ace's bombs, and replaces its Ground Zero ability with an improved version.

• Ability: Does 3,000 damage onto up to 5,000 Bloons on screen (prioritizing the closest to the landing pad), and applies an 8 second stun to all Bloons that survive the explosion. It deals double damage to Camos. It has a cooldown of 35 seconds.
• Bombing run: Base damage per bomb increased from 15 to 20, and Camo bonus damage from +15 to +20. Each bomb also gains +10 bonus Ceramic damage.

Stats

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

This data was last updated for: version 55.1

Tower
Display range 22 units Footprint 28 × 18 units Movement speed 60 units/s Targeting options Circle Figure Infinite Figure Eight

Attack
Cooldown 1.68s Offset (X, Y, Z) 0, 19.8, -14 Targeting range 22 units
Ignores blockers Can fire without a target
Main projectile Count 8 Angle 360° Pierce 5 Damage 1 Damage to Camo +1 Damage type Sharp Speed 120 units/s Lifespan 1.4s Radius 3 units Ignores blockers

Bomb attack
Cooldown 1.6s Offset (X, Y, Z) 0, 19.8, -14 Targeting range ∞ units
Can fire without a target
Explosion Pierce 40 Damage 20 Damage to Ceramic +10 Damage to Camo +20 Damage type Explosion Lifespan 0.05s Radius 35 units Ignores blockers

Ability
Cooldown 35s
Explosion Pierce 5,000 Damage 3,000 Damage to Camo +3,000 Damage type Normal Lifespan 0.05s Radius ∞ units Ignores blockers Damage soaks through MOAB-Class layers Stun Multiplier ×0 Duration 8s Layers ∞

1-5-0

Attack
Cooldown 1.68s → 1.26s

Bomb attack
Cooldown 1.6s → 1.2s

2-5-0

Attack
Main projectile Count 8 → 12

0-5-1

Attack
Main projectile Pierce 5 → 8

Bomb attack
Explosion Pierce 40 → 52

0-5-2

Tower
Targeting options Centered Path

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
0-5-0	$37,615	$44,250	$47,790	$53,100	$26,331	$30,975	$33,453	$37,170
1-5-0	$38,000	$44,700	$48,275	$53,640	$26,600	$31,290	$33,793	$37,548
2-5-0	$38,470	$45,250	$48,870	$54,300	$26,929	$31,675	$34,209	$38,010
0-5-1	$38,040	$44,750	$48,330	$53,700	$26,628	$31,325	$33,831	$37,590
0-5-2	$38,510	$45,300	$48,925	$54,360	$26,957	$31,710	$34,248	$38,052

Strategy

This section was last updated for: version 53.0

Tsar Bomba's ability is significantly more powerful than Ground Zero, standing out against BFBs, ZOMGs, and Fortified DDTs, but weaker against sustained rushes compared to multiple Ground Zeroes. It stands out in Race Events and CT Time Attack; its ability can almost immediately wipe out masses of BFBs as well as heavily damaged ZOMGs. In CHIMPS, it remains useful when combined with low-RBE cleanups (e.g. Perma-Spike) and single-target damage (e.g. Spike Storm) to account for Tsar's downtime and inconsistent bombing runs.

Like Ground Zero, proper ability timing and stalling is important. For the best results, always time the ability while all but a few blimps are on screen, or with one or few healthy ZOMGs remaining on screen. The stun from the ability on surviving blimps can offer more time to stall. In the meantime, Tsar Bomba's bombing runs may be controlled to depend less on the ability.

Crosspaths are irrelevant to the ability, and its crosspaths are only bought to improve its bombing run, with 1-5-0 generally preferred.

Update history

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

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Version 7.0

•  Overall cost increased by $400 (due to cost changes for previous tiers)
•  Bombing run: Blast radius increased ― 25 → 35
•  Bombing run: Attack cooldown reduced ― 3s → 1.5s (attack speed increased by 100%)
•  Bombing run: Damage increased ― 2 → 4

Version 9.0

• Correctly applies stun art (bug fix)

Version 10.0

“

[N]o one really noticed that this gained +8 damage for 10 seconds after ability use. So, Bombs dropped by this tower now deal 10 damage permanently
— Update notes

”

•  Bombing run: Explosion damage increased ― 4 → 10
•  Ability: No longer increases bomb explosion damage by 8 for 10 seconds after activation
•  Bombing run: Attack cooldown increased ― 1.5s → 1.7s (attack speed reduced by 11.76%)

1-5-0, 2-5-0

•  Bombing Run: Attack cooldown reduced ― 1.7s → 1.02s (attack speed increased by 66.67%)
  • Note: Rapid Fire now increases attack speed

Version 21.0

“

Tsar Bomba currently holds low value compared to multiple Ground Zero purchases aside from the stun, this greatly requested change should hopefully add more niche benefit .^[sic]
— Update notes

”

•  Ability: Cooldown reduced ― 45s → 40s
•  Bomb attack: Damage type changed ― Explosion → Normal

1-5-0, 0-5-1

•  Now reduces ability cooldown by 5s (bug)
  •  Overall cooldown reduced ― 45s → 35s (due to changes to the base cooldown)

2-5-0, 0-5-2

•  Now reduces ability cooldown by 5s (bug)
  •  Overall cooldown reduced ― 45s → 30s (due to changes to the base cooldown)

Version 22.0

“

While Pineapples are never the star of the show, the amount of pierce they have is completely unnecessary for their usage window and has only led to balance problems for Bombing Run, specifically in races. This high amount of pierce has been more evenly spread through higher tiers & crosspath.
— Update notes

”

0-5-1

•  Bombing run: Now gains +12 pierce from Sharper Darts
  • Note: Bomb pierce increased from 40 to 52

1-5-0, 0-5-1

•  No longer reduces ability cooldown by 5s (bug fix)

2-5-0, 0-5-2

•  No longer reduces ability cooldown by 5s (bug fix)
  •  Stacks with a bug fix to the previous tier; overall ability cooldown increased by 10s to match the non-crosspathed cooldown

Version 23.0

“

Monkey Ace was never intended to be a great starting tower and instead come into power at mid- and high-tier upgrades, but since the base tower feels lacking to new players (and some of us old timers) we decided to rework low tier power into the base tower.
— Update notes

”

•  Dart: Projectile size increased ― 2 → 3
•  Main attack: Attack cooldown reduced ― 2.1s → 1.68s (attack speed increased by 25%)

0-5-1, 0-5-2

•  Pineapple: Attack cooldown reduced ― 3s → 2s (attack speed increased by 50%)

1-5-0, 2-5-0

•  Pineapple: Attack cooldown reduced ― 1.6s → 1.2s (attack speed increased by 33.33%)

Version 24.0

“

Similar to Tack Shooter Maelstrom upgrades, we have targeted a nerf to Ground Zero for race conditions by amounts which are not relevant outside of those conditions. Additionally Tsar Bomba has received a much smaller version of this nerf along with a reduced cooldown to increase its relevance.
— Update notes

”

•  Ability: Pierce reduced ― ∞ → 5,000
•  Ability: Cooldown reduced ― 40s → 35s
  •  Also reduces initial cooldown ― 10s → 5s

Version 30.0

“

As Ground Zero stands out in power, & enough so to make the upgrade to Tsar Bomba questionable, some upgrade cost has been moved out of Tsar Bomba into Ground Zero to make Ground Zero more expensive while not changing Tsar much other than a slight overall cost buff.
— Update notes

”

•  Upgrade cost reduced ― $35,000 → $30,000
  •  Overall cost reduced by $1,000 (due to cost changes for previous tiers)
•  Reverse flight pattern added

Version 31.0

“

Spy Plane is always a lesser crosspath aside from specific challenges that call for camo detection. It has a similar vibe to Night Vision sniper so we have given it a similar buff.
— Update notes

”

•  All attacks: Spy Plane now deal +1 damage to Camo

Version 41.0

1-5-0, 2-5-0

•  Bombing run: Attack rate buff from Rapid Fire reduced ― -40% → -25% (undocumented)
  •  Overall attack cooldown increased ― 1.02s → 1.275s (attack speed reduced by 20%)

Version 43.0

“

Minor catchup changes to some parts have fallen out of line slightly due to balance changes for other parts of the Ace.
— Update notes

”

•  Bombing run: Attack cooldown reduced ― 1.7s → 1.6s (attack speed increased by 6.25%)
  •  Overall attack cooldown with Rapid Fire reduced ― 1.275s → 1.2s (attack speed increased by 6.25%)

Version 45.0

“

Tsar Bomba is a powerful ability that sees a decent lot of use for an ability heavy upgrade, but as it doesn’t really add to the tower outside of that ability we’ve decided to give the base bombs a boost so that well placed Bombing Runs can shred through Super Ceramics.
— Update notes

”

•  Bomb attack: Damage increased ― 10 → 15
•  Bomb attack: Now deals +8 damage to Ceramics

Version 47.0

“

Upgrades to the basic Bombing run are never why you move up this path, so we’re improving these across the board while also reducing the cooldown of Ground Zero to match the T5.
— Update notes

”

•  Bombing run: Damage increased ― 15 → 30
•  Ability initial cooldown increased ― 5s → 11.6667s (undocumented)

Version 48.0

“

Tsar Bomba’s last bomb change appeared to be an over-buff and is being reeled back on. [...]
— Update notes

”

•  Bombing run: Damage per bomb reduced ― 30 → 25

Version 49.0

“

Long ago Tsar Bomba was given normal damage type to allow for more interesting 2TC combos at the time, however this no longer feels needed with its current power level so instead we have lowered the upgrade cost and shifted some base bombing run damage into Ceramic bonus
— Update notes

”

•  Upgrade cost reduced ― $30,000 → $26,000
•  Bombing run: Damage per bomb reduced ― 25 → 20
•  Bombing run: Bonus damage against Ceramic Bloons per bomb increased ― +8 → +10
•  Bombing run: Bomb damage type changed ― Normal → Explosion

Version 50.0

“

As Spy Plane crosspath doesn’t see much love we’ve gone all-in on the Camo crosspath making it a double damage bonus, which is especially good news for Ground Zero vs. Fortified DDTs.
— Update notes

”

•  Bonus damage to Camo Bloons increased for all attacks ― +1 → ×2

Version 53.0

“

Ground Zero feels like a good tower, but has had a hard time fitting anywhere being power creeped by other meta options.
— Update notes

”

•  Overall cost reduced by $2,000 (due to cost changes for previous tiers)

Gallery

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

Screenshots

• 
  Tsar Bomba for all upgrades
• 
  Tsar Bomba runway
• 
  Tsar Bomba ability

Assets

• 
  Portrait
• 
  Upgrade icon
• 
  Ability icon
• 
  Insta Monkey icon

Trivia

• The real-life Tsar Bomba was the most powerful nuclear weapon ever tested, created by the Soviet Union.
• According to a Ninja Kiwi blog post, the prototype Tsar Bomba was the single strongest weapon created by the Monkeys, even more powerful than its current form.
• In previous versions, the ability caused a screen-wide visual flash when the bomb landed.
• The Tsar Bomba was the first non-hero tower to solo CHIMPS.

In other languages

Language	Name / Description	Notes
Arabic	قنبلة القيصر قنبلة كبيرة للغاية. شخص ما وضع حد لهذا الجنون!	—
Danish	Tsar-bombe En meget, meget stor bombe. En eller anden, stop denne galskab!	—
German	Tsar-Bomba Eine äußerst große Bombe. Jemand muss diesem Irrsinn ein Ende setzen!	—
Spanish	Bomba zar Una bomba muy, muy grande. ¡Que alguien detenga esta locura!	—
Spanish (LA)	Bomba zar Una bomba muy, muy grande. ¡Que alguien detenga esta locura!	—
Finnish	Tsar-Bomba Erittäin, erittäin suuri pommi. Joku saisi pysäyttää tämän hulluuden!	—
French	Tsar Bomba Une très très grosse bombe. Il faut mettre un terme à tout ça !	—
Italian	Bomba Zar Una bomba molto, molto grande. Bisogna farla finita con queste esagerazioni!	—
Japanese	ツァーボンバー とても、とても大きな爆弾。だれか、この狂気を止めて！	—
Korean	차르 봄바 무지막지하게 큰 폭탄입니다. 사태가 겉잡을 수 없게 되었네요!	—
Dutch	Tsar bomba Een hele, hele grote bom. Laat iemand een einde maken aan deze waanzin!	—
Norwegian	Tsar Bomba En veldig, veldig stor bombe. Noen må stoppe denne galskapen!	—
Polish	Carska bomba Bardzo, bardzo duża bomba. Niech ktoś zatrzyma to szaleństwo!	—
Portuguese (Brazil)	Bomba Tsar Uma bomba muito, muito grande. Alguém pare com essa loucura!	—
Russian	Царь-бомба Большая-пребольшая бомба. Кто-нибудь, остановите это безумие!	—
Swedish	Tsarbomb En väldigt, väldigt stor bomb. Någon måste stoppa de här galenskaperna!	—
Thai	ทซาร์บอมบ้า ระเบิดลูกใหญ่สุดๆ ใครก็ได้หยุดความบ้าคลั่งนี่ที!	—
Turkish	Çar Bombası Çok ama çok büyük bir bomba. Biri bu çılgınlığa dur desin!	—
Chinese (simplified)	沙皇邦巴 一种非常非常大的炸弹。有人阻止了这种疯狂想法！	—
Chinese (traditional)	沙皇邦巴 非常非常大的炸彈。快來人，這太瘋狂，受不了了！	—
This list was last updated for: version 43.1