Monkey (BCS)

For Monkeys in general, see Monkey.

A Triple Shot attacking a group of Discount Bloons

Monkeys are a type of card in Bloons Card Storm and the main way of defending the Hero from the opponent's Bloons. When played, they appear between the player's Hero and the Bloon track. Each player can have up to five Monkeys on their side of the board at a time, and if all of a player's spaces are full, that player can play new Monkeys on top of existing Monkeys to replace them.

The player can attack an opponent's Bloon with most Monkeys during their turn by dragging from the Monkey to the target. Attacking a Bloon deals damage equal to the Monkey's Attack Power and consumes one unit of the Monkey's Ammo. When a Monkey runs out of Ammo, its Reload stat determines the number of turns it takes for the Monkey to restore its Ammo.

Monkeys are the only cards that can have On Attack, On Reload, On Replace, or On Turn End effects.

Mechanics

Attack Power

Dart Monkey Twins buffing each other's Attack Power by being placed next to each other

The Attack Power of a Monkey is the amount of damage it deals to the target Bloon each time it attacks. Most Monkey card effects that deal damage, such as the Boomerang Monkey's second hit, the Thunder Druid's On Play effect, or the Blade Maelstrom's On Turn End effect, are independent of their Attack Power and are not affected by buffs or debuffs to their Attack Power. The exceptions are effects that are referred to as "attacks" in card text, such as the Arcane Master's additional projectiles and the Mortar Monkey's On Turn End effect.

If a Monkey has zero Attack Power, such as by being affected by a Buddy Bloon, then it can still attack, dealing zero damage but still triggering On Damaged effects and Extractor Bloons. Monkeys cannot have their Attack Power lowered to below zero.

Ammo

A Monkey's Ammo is the number of times it can attack a Bloon before it has to reload. Each attack consumes one Ammo. All Monkeys start with full Ammo when played.

Reload

The Reload of a Monkey is the number of rounds it takes for the Monkey to reload its Ammo. If a Monkey has no Ammo at the start of the player's turn, the Reload counter decreases by 1, and if it reaches zero, the Monkey gains Ammo equal to its maximum Ammo.

Class

Monkeys come in four card classes: Primary, Military, Magic, and Support. Monkeys that are based on towers and upgrades from Bloons TD 6 use the same classifications as in that game. There are no card effects that depend on a Monkey's class, meaning it is only determines which Tokens are used for crafting.

Type

The type of a Monkey is a secondary classification system unique to Monkeys. Some cards have effects that depend on the type (such as Super Monkey Fan Club applying a buff to Dart-type Monkeys only or Mine Supervisors generating more Bloontonium per Miner-type Monkey), but most Monkey types have no interactions. With the exception of Agent-type Monkeys, all Monkeys of the same type also belong to the same class.

Defenders

An opposing Elite Defender using its Defender property to pop an incoming MOAB from the other player

Monkeys with the Defender keyword will automatically use any remaining Ammo to attack incoming Bloons from the opponent's side at the end of the opponent's turn. If the player has multiple Defenders, they will attack in the order they were played, oldest first (i.e. first played Defender attacks until it has no Ammo, then second and subsequent Defenders), and always attack before Adora's Sun Shield. All Defenders also gain a certain amount of Attack Power during the opponent's turn (notated as "Defender +<amount>" in the card text), making them deal more damage while defending. Defenders can be buffed during the opponent's turn by the Dark Champion. Defenders have a shield-shaped plate beneath them instead of a circle.

Does not attack normally

Monkeys with the term "Does not attack normally" in their card text do not allow the player to aim their attacks at Bloons. All Monkeys with this property have some other means of attacking on their own, such as the Mortar Monkey's ability to attack a random target at the end of the player's turn. Monkeys with this property have a square-shaped plate beneath them instead of a circle.

Can't Attack

Monkeys with the term "Can't Attack" in their card text are unable to attack by any means. Monkeys with this property have no Attack Power, Ammo, or Reload stat, and are considered to have an Attack Power of 0 for the purposes of card effects that depend on Attack Power, such as Bed Time. Monkeys with this property have a square-shaped plate beneath them instead of a circle.