Riptide Champion

Riptide Champion

Mermonkey draws energy from the sea. Tridents can pop Lead Bloons, grow in power as they travel, and crash with devastating force.

Tower	Mermonkey — Path 2 — Tier 3
XP cost	2,500
Cash cost	$1,700 — Easy $2,000 — Medium $2,160 — Hard $2,400 — Impoppable

← Tidal Chill

Arctic Knight →

Riptide Champion is the Mermonkey's path 2 tier 3 upgrade in Bloons TD 6. It replaces its original trident attack with a new trident attack that fires every 1.5 seconds instead of every 1.2 seconds and has 32 units of range instead of 28 units. Its tridents move slower and don't create splashes, but they now grow in size and damage as they travel, and they spawn two wavelet projectiles laterally at the end of their lifespans (they do not spawn upon running out of pierce).

At base, both the tridents and the wavelets have 25 pierce, deal 4 Frigid-type damage and +2 damage to frozen Bloons, and freeze all layers of Bloons they deal damage to for up to 1 second (0.5 seconds for Ceramic Bloons). Per second of travel time, the tridents gain 50% more damage (capped at 3× damage, though this is functionally impossible to reach without projectile lifespan buffs) and 10% more radius, while the wavelets lose 20% radius (but do not lose damage).

Crosspathing with Trident Efficiency and Trident Swiftness modifies the trident attack's attack speed, projectile speed, and projectile lifespan by the same ratio as the previous tier, but Trident Swiftness also increases the tridents' growth rate to 75% damage and 15% radius per second to compensate for their reduced lifespan. Crosspathing with Echosense Precision gives its trident projectiles a slower rotation rate to compensate for their slower travel speed and does not allow its wavelets to seek Bloons.

Stats

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

This data was last updated for: version 55.1

Tower
Display range 32 units Footprint radius 8 units Targeting options First Last Close Strong

Attack
Cooldown 1.5s Offset (X, Y, Z) -0.5, 3.4, 7 Targeting Depends on targeting option Targeting range 32 units Filters Cannot target Camo
Projectile Pierce 25 Damage 4 Damage to frozen +2 Damage type Frigid Speed 130 units/s Lifespan 1.5385s Radius 1 unit Filters Ignores White if its damage type cannot damage it Cannot hit Camo Freeze Multiplier ×0 Duration 1s Layers ∞ Split projectile Count 2 Angle 180° Pierce 25 Damage 4 Damage to frozen +2 Damage type Frigid Speed 100 units/s Lifespan 2s Radius 1 unit Filters Ignores White if its damage type cannot damage it Cannot hit Camo Freeze Multiplier ×0 Duration 1s Layers ∞

Buff when in water
Range modifier ×1.35

1-3-0

Attack
Cooldown 1.5s → 1.2s Offset (X, Y, Z) -0.5, 3.4, 7 ↓ -0.5, 3.4, 8.2

2-3-0

Attack
Cooldown 1.2s → 0.825s
Projectile Speed 130 units/s → 195 units/s Lifespan 1.5385s → 1.0256s

0-3-1

Attack
Offset (X, Y, Z) -0.5, 3.4, 7 ↓ -0.5, 3.4, 8.2 Filters Can now target Camo
Projectile Seeking distance 80 units Seeking angle 360° Seeking rotation speed 169 °/s Filters Can now hit Camo Split projectile Filters Can now hit Camo

0-3-2

Echosense Network
Range modifier +7.5% Max. stacks 10
Has global range

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
0-3-0	$2,315	$2,725	$2,945	$3,270	$1,621	$1,908	$2,062	$2,289
1-3-0	$2,440	$2,875	$3,105	$3,450	$1,708	$2,013	$2,174	$2,415
2-3-0	$2,650	$3,125	$3,375	$3,750	$1,855	$2,188	$2,363	$2,625
0-3-1	$2,485	$2,925	$3,160	$3,510	$1,740	$2,048	$2,212	$2,457
0-3-2	$2,725	$3,205	$3,460	$3,845	$1,908	$2,244	$2,422	$2,692

Strategy

This strategy section is empty or incomplete. See the strategy guidelines for more information on how to write strategy sections. The editor who added this notice elaborates: Check again if crosspath prefs for top vs bottom are still true as of v51.0 with pierce buff

This article or section is outdated and needs to be updated to reflect recent updates or newly available information. You can help out by editing this article. The editor who added this notice elaborates: big Riptide nerfs

This section was last updated for: version 52.2

Riptide Champion's cheap cost gives it an edge at mid-to-late-game cleanup and support, freezing Super Ceramics while dealing high general damage in all stages. It's particularly effective in groups, being able to focus one area at a time, and can bolster DDT damage. Its only major downsides are being unable to pop Whites and Zebras, requiring additional cleanup, and adding an anti-synergy with sharp attacks.

The third-path crosspath is preferred to let the homing scale its damage more reliably, with Echosense Network potentially giving it massive range. However, the first-path crosspath's speed bonuses are used if Riptide Champion must deal with denser groups and cannot use the homing effectively.

Update history

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

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Version 44.1

“

While we’re not jumping into any full on balance changes, there’s a few corrections that we wanted to make for type-fixes and other intended play.
— Update notes

”

•  Sub-projectiles can now freeze Bloons in addition to the main projectile

Version 45.0

“

While the Arctic Knight has been popular, Riptide Champion has major pierce issues and is seeing a price reduction as well as a pierce increase to make up for this.
— Update notes

”

•  Upgrade cost reduced ― $2,800 → $2,300
  •  Overall cost reduced by $625 (due to cost changes for previous tiers)
•  Pierce increased ― 8 → 12

Version 47.0

“

Middle path pierce was lacking all through to T5, so pierce is now being matched to T5 across the path.
— Update notes

”

•  Trident: Pierce increased ― 12 → 18
  • Note: Popseidon unaffected
•  Split projectile: Pierce increased ― 12 → 18
  • Note: Popseidon unaffected

Version 48.0

“

Middle path is seeing a consistency improvement for Freeze Duration & White Bloons
— Update notes

”

•  Trident: Freeze duration increased ― 0.3s → 0.8s
•  Split trident: Freeze duration increased ― 0.3s → 0.8s

Version 49.0

“

Riptide Champion’s damage type is being made consistent with the rest of the path to grant Mermonkey earlier Lead popping [...]
— Update notes

”

•  Overall cost reduced by $300 (due to cost changes for previous tiers)
•  Resolved a build order issue that could override higher tier Mermonkey buffs (bug fix)
•  Damage type changed ― Energy → Frigid
• Description changed ― Mermonkey draws energy from the sea. Tridents grow in size and power as they travel, and crash with devastating force. → Mermonkey draws energy from the sea. Tridents can pop Lead Bloons, grow in power as they travel, and crash with devastating force.

Version 51.0

“

Mermonkey weren’t^[sic] feeling they favoured their natural habitat enough, so their Water Placement bonus is getting a boost. Middle Path Mermonkey just isn’t putting in the work we hoped, so we’re giving a couple price adjustments, a pierce increase across all tiers [...]
— Update notes

”

•  Upgrade cost reduced ― $2,300 → $1,900
•  Trident: Pierce increased ― 18 → 25
•  Range bonus when placed in water increased ― +25% → +35%

Version 52.0

“

Last update many players felt blindsided when Brickell stopped applying her buff to Mermonkeys since there was no mention in the balance changes section. We would like to apologize for that - it was tasked internally as a bug as it was indeed unintended to work that way. We then left the issue alone for a long time, mostly due to other more pressing matters, and this issue fell through the cracks. In retrospect, it would have been better to treat this as balance rather than a simple bug fix due to how much time had passed. Reading through your feedback, we did consider just reverting the change, however the bigger issue that the feedback reinforced to us was that players considered Mermonkey to be so bad that it was only a "good" tower when used in combination with a single, water-only hero. This sort of forced synergy goes against our design intentions - namely that Mermonkey being our signature amphibious tower should be able to stand on its own without being balance-locked to an interaction with a single hero. With all that in mind, we feel Mermonkey's highest priority right now is large sweeping buffs to each of the paths, so most of the following changes are our first step towards this starting from the low tier crosspaths.
— Update notes

”

•  Upgrade cost reduced ― $1,900 → $1,100
  •  Overall cost reduced by $975 (due to cost changes for previous tiers)
•  Trident: Projectile speed increased ― 100 units/s → 110 units/s
•  Trident: Projectile lifespan decreased ― 2.0s → 1.8181s
  • Note: Maximum distance traveled by the projectile unchanged. Popseidon side tridents are also affected.

1-3-0

•  Trident: Attack cooldown reduced ― 1.02s → 0.96s (attack speed increased by 6.25%)
  • Note: Attack cooldown reduction from 0-0-0 increased from 15% to 20%. The patch notes do not specify that the attack speed buff is only for the main trident attack, all other attacks unchanged.

2-3-0

•  Trident: Attack cooldown reduced ― 0.804s → 0.66s (attack speed increased by 21.82%)
  • Note: Attack cooldown reduction from 1-x-x increased from 18% to 25%. The patch notes do not specify that the attack speed buff is only for the main trident attack, all other attacks unchanged.
•  Trident: Projectile speed increased ― 150 units/s → 165 units/s
•  Trident: Projectile lifespan decreased ― 1.3333s → 1.1212s
  • Note: Maximum distance traveled by the projectile unchanged. Popseidon side tridents are also affected.

0-3-1, 0-3-2

•  Trident (seeking): Turn rate increased ― 130°/s → 143°/s (undocumented)

Version 53.0

“

Riptide Champion as an underappreciated star performed exceptionally well with recent changes which are now being scaled back and Popseidon which was also performing extremely well will likewise be scaled back
— Update notes

”

•  Upgrade cost increased ― $1,100 → $1,400
•  Range reduced ― 35 units → 32 units

Version 54.0

“

Mermonkey ended up somewhat underrated and overbuffed, mid tiers for top and middle paths have really stood out here lately and need to be reigned back in line.
— Update notes

”

•  Upgrade cost increased ― $1,400 → $2,000
  •  Overall cost increased by $625 (due to cost changes for previous tiers)
•  Main attack: Freeze duration for Rainbow Bloons and below increased ― 0.8s → 1s
•  Main attack: Freeze duration for Ceramic Bloons decreased ― 0.8s → 0.5s
•  Trident: Projectile speed increased ― 110 units/s → 130 units/s
  • Stacks with 2-X-0 Trident Swiftness crosspath ― 165 units/s → 195 units/s
•  Trident: Projectile lifespan decreased ― 1.8182s → 1.5385s
  • Stacks with 2-X-0 Trident Swiftness crosspath ― 1.2121s → 1.0256s
  •  Overall projectile distance remains unchanged (200 units) for all crosspaths
•  Trident: Attack cooldown increased ― 1.2s → 1.5s (attack speed reduced by 20%)
  • Stacks with 1-X-0 Trident Efficiency crosspath ― 0.96s → 1.2s
  • Stacks with 2-X-0 Trident Swiftness crosspath ― 0.66s → 0.825s

0-3-1, 0-3-2

•  Trident: Turn rate increased ― 143°/s → 169°/s

Gallery

For more Mermonkey images, see Gallery:Mermonkey.

Screenshots

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Assets

• 
  Portrait
• 
  Icon
• 
  Insta Monkey icon

In other languages

This section was last updated for: version 55.2

Name

Language	Text	Notes
Arabic	بطل ضد التيار	—
Danish	Tidevandets mester	—
German	Strömungs-Champion	—
Spanish	Campeón de las aguas revueltas	—
Spanish (Latin America)	Campeón de marea	—
Finnish	Ristiaallokon mestari	—
French	Champion des courants	—
Italian	Campione delle correnti	—
Japanese	離岸流チャンピオン	—
Korean	해류의 제왕	—
Dutch	Kampioen van de getijden	—
Norwegian	Tverrstrøm-mester	—
Polish	Mistrz odpływu	—
Portuguese (Brazil)	Campeão da Contracorrente	—
Russian	Приливной чемпион	—
Swedish	Ripströmmästare	—
Thai	ริปไทด์แชมเปี้ยน	—
Turkish	Ters Akıntı Şampiyonu	—
Chinese (simplified)	激流冠军	—
Chinese (traditional)	激流鬥士	—

Description

Language	Text	Notes
Arabic	يستمد الميرمانكي طاقته من البحر. يمكن للرماح ثلاثية الشعب فرقعة البالونات المصنوعة من الرصاص، والنمو في القوة في أثناء سفرها، والتحطم بقوة مدمرة.	—
Danish	Havaber henter energi fra havet. Treforker kan springe bly-bloons, vokser i kraft efter affyring, og styrter ned med ødelæggende kraft.	—
German	Meeraffen beziehen ihre Energie vom Meer. Die Dreizacke können Bleibloons platzen lassen, werden unterwegs größer und stärker und schlagen vernichtend ein.	—
Spanish	El siremono obtiene energía del mar. Los tridentes pueden hacer explotar bloons emplomados, aumentar su poder mientras viajan y golpear con una fuerza devastadora.	—
Spanish (Latin America)	El tritomono extrae energía del mar. Los tridentes revientan bloons emplomados, aumentan de tamaño y potencia mientras avanzan y chocan con fuerza devastadora.	—
Finnish	Merenapina vetää energiaa merestä. Atraimet voivat poksauttaa lyijyblooneja, tehostuvat liikkuessaan ja iskevät tuhoavalla voimalla.	—
French	Le siringe tire son énergie de la mer. Les tridents peuvent faire éclater des Bloons en plomb, gagnent en taille et en puissance au fur et à mesure qu'ils se déplacent et s'écrasent de façon dévastatrice.	—
Italian	Le sirenscimmie traggono energia dal mare. I tridenti possono far scoppiare i bloon di piombo, aumentare di potenza durante il viaggio e schiantarsi con una forza devastante.	—
Japanese	人魚モンキーが海からエネルギーを取得する。進んでいくと三又槍は鉛ブルーンを割れるようになり、パワーも増え、物凄い威力で破壊する。	—
Korean	바다원숭이가 바다로부터 힘을 얻습니다. 납 풍선을 터트릴 수 있게 된 삼지창이 날아가면서 점점 크기가 커지고 위력이 증가해 목표물과 접촉할 때 어마어마한 살상력을 발휘합니다.	—
Dutch	Zeemeeraap put energie uit de zee. Drietanden kunnen Loden Bloons laten knallen, worden sterker naarmate ze afstand afleggen en landen met verwoestende kracht.	—
Norwegian	Havape får energi fra havet. Treforker kan poppe bly-bloons. De vokser seg sterkere mens de reiser, og de krasjer med knusende styrke.	—
Polish	Małpka syrenka czerpie energię z morskich głębin. Trójzęby mogą przekłuwać ołowiane blony, a także stają się większe i potężniejsze, po czym spadają na wrogów z niszczycielską siłą.	—
Portuguese (Brazil)	O Macaquático tira energia do mar. Os tridentes podem estourar Bloons de Chumbo, aumentam de poder conforme viajam e colidem com uma força devastadora.	—
Russian	Морбезьяны черпают силу из моря. Трезубцы могут пробивать свинцовые шары, в полете увеличиваются и усиливаются, а потом бьют с ужасающей мощью.	—
Swedish	Havsapan hämtar energi från havet. Treuddarna kan smälla Blybloons, växer i kraft under sin färd och kraschar med förödande kraft.	—
Thai	เมอร์มังกี้ยืมพลังจากท้องทะเล ตรีศูรสามารถทำให้บลูนตะกั่วแตก พลังมากขึ้นเมื่อขว้างออกไปและกระทบเป้าหมายด้วยพลังทำลายล้างอันล้นหลาม	—
Turkish	Deniz Maymunu denizden enerji çeker. Yabalar Kurşun Bloon'ları patlatabilir, yol alırken gücü artar ve yok edici bir güçle çarpar.	—
Chinese (simplified)	人鱼猴子从海洋中汲取能量。三叉戟可以击破铅气球，在飞行过程中威力会逐渐增大，并以毁灭性的力量撞击地面。	—
Chinese (traditional)	美人魚猴從海洋中汲取能量。三叉戟可擊破鉛氣球，並在飛行過程中增長力量，最後以毀滅性的力量撞擊敵人。	—