Update history:Alchemist (BTD6)

This is a list of changes to the Alchemist in Bloons TD 6 post-release.

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Tiers Changes
2-X-X Acidic Mixture Dip and further upgrades
  •   Acidic Mixture Dip: No longer targets Nature's Ward Totems (bug fix)
  •   Acidic Mixture Dip: Now allows towers to damage DDTs (bug fix)
  •   Acidic Mixture Dip: Can now target 5-X-X Monkey Villages (bug fix)
3-X-X Berserker Brew and further upgrades
  •   Berserker Brew: No longer causes Phoenixes to stop attacking (bug fix)
X-5-X Total Transformation
  •   Ability: Duration now pauses between rounds (bug fix)
  • Ability: Now displays a visual effect when the transformation ends
X-X-1 Acid Pool and further upgrades
  •   Main attack: Now places an acid pool where the potion lands if it does not hit its target
X-X-5 Bloon Master Alchemist
  •   Shrink potion attack: No longer targets BADs (since it does not affect them) (bug fix)
  • Shrink potion attack: Can no longer softlock the game by converting Bloons that were moved off-screen with blowback (bug fix)
Tiers Changes
2-X-X Acidic Mixture Dip and further upgrades
  •   AMD: No longer targets Benjamin
    • Note: Brews still target Level 7+ Benjamin
X-3-X Unstable Concoction and further upgrades
  •   Concoction: Now benefits from crosspaths
    • x-x-1: 0.8x attack cooldown
    • 1-x-x: +7 radius
Tiers Changes
2-X-X Acidic Mixture Dip and further upgrades
  •   Can no longer apply dip to Monkey Villages without Primary Expertise (bug fix)
3-X-X Berserker Brew and further upgrades
  •   Brew: no longer applies the range buff twice (bug fix)
X-3-X Unstable Concoction and further upgrades
  •   Concoction explosion: MOABs and BFBs now consume +1 pierce
  •   Concoction explosion: ZOMGs and DDTs now consume +3 pierce
  •   Concoction explosion: BADs now consume +9 pierce
X-5-X Total Transformation
  •   Ability no longer changes the footprint of transformed towers (bug fix)
X-X-5 Bloon Master Alchemist
  •   No longer gives extra cash for converting Bloons (bug fix)
Tiers Changes
2-X-X Acidic Mixture Dip and further upgrades
  •   Can no longer apply dip to Banana Farms (bug fix)
3-X-X Berserker Brew
  •   Brew now wears off after 30 attacks, in addition to wearing off on its own after enough time elapses
4-X-X Stronger Stimulant
  •   Brew now wears off after 50 attacks, in addition to wearing off on its own after enough time elapses
    • Note: Does not carry over to Permanent Brew
Tiers Changes
5-X-X Permanent Brew
  •   Upgrade cost reduced ― $80,000 → $60,000
X-4-X Transforming Tonic
  •   Upgrade cost reduced ― $5,000 → $4,500
X-5-X Total Transformation
  •   Upgrade cost reduced ― $50,000 → $45,000
Tiers Changes
5-X-X Permanent Brew
  •   Acidic Mixture Dip: Buff now lasts forever
X-2-X Perishing Potions and further upgrades
  • Main potion: Damage counter now counts removed health from defortifying outer layers
X-5-X Total Transformation
  •   Ability: Cooldown reduced ― 60s → 40s
    • Note: Also effectively reduces its initial cooldown from 20s to 0s
Tiers Changes
5-X-X Permanent Brew
  •   Permabrew should correctly apply when reloading save again (bug fix)
  •   Permabrew should no longer break in some cases after being sold (bug fix)
X-3-X Unstable Concoction and further upgrades
X-X-4 Rubber to Gold
X-X-5 Bloon Master Alchemist
  •   Attacks can now be thrown over obstacles (bug fix)
Tiers Changes
2-X-X Acidic Mixture Dip and all crosspaths
3-X-X Berserker Brew and further upgrades
  •   Acidic Mixture Dip buff: no longer applies +1 damage to Ceramics or MOAB-Class (bug)
  • Acidic Mixture Dip buff: now has a visual effect on buffed towers
  • "Buffs should no longer miss their target and buff another tower nearby" (bug fix)
3-X-X Berserker Brew and further upgrades
  •   Berserker Brew buff: no longer ignores towers that are already buffed (bug)
  • Berserker Brew buff: now has a visual effect on buffed towers
X-5-X Total Transformation
  • "Total Transformation should no longer cause crashes when used in a number of situations" (bug fix)
Tiers Changes
2-X-X Acidic Mixture Dip and further upgrades
  •   Acidic Mixture Dip buff: now applies +1 damage to Ceramic and MOAB-Class Bloons (bug fix)
5-X-X Permanent Brew
  • "Permabrew will correctly apply bonus damage from Acidic Mixture Dip and both Brew & Dip buffs should save and load correctly"
X-5-X Total Transformation
X-X-5 Bloon Master Alchemist
  • "Should again remove Camo & Regen properties from converted targets"
Tiers Changes
2-X-X Acidic Mixture Dip and further upgrades
  •   Now only shows a buff icon when AMD is applied
Tiers Changes
X-3-X Unstable Concoction and further upgrades
  •   Concoction explosion: Damage scaling now caps at round 150
Alchemist is already widely used, but we thought of an interesting way to add some more crosspath value and wanted to take the chance to perform a small rebalance at the same time.
— Update notes
Tiers Changes
3-X-X Berserker Brew
  •   Berserker Brew: shots per brew reduced ― 30 → 25
3-2-0 Berserker Brew + Perishing Potions
  •   Berserker Brew: shots per brew increased ― 30 → 35
  •   Berserker Brew: duration increased ― 5s → 6s
  •   Berserker Brew: re-application cooldown reduced ― 5s → 4s
4-X-X Stronger Stimulant
  •   Stronger Stimulant: shots per brew reduced ― 50 → 40
    • Note: 420 crosspath unchanged
4-2-0 Stronger Stimulant + Perishing Potions
  •   Stronger Stimulant: re-application cooldown reduced ― 5s → 4s
  •   Stronger Stimulant: duration increased ― 12s → 13s
Follow up steps in overall balancing use of the 420 and 402 alchemist upgrades, this brings both combinations more in-line for total cost and allows us to think about Acid Pools as its own upgrade in future rather than worrying about the impact of changing 402.
— Update notes
Tiers Changes
4-X-X Stronger Stimulant
  •   Upgrade cost increased ― $2,500 → $3,000
X-X-1 Faster Throwing
  •   Upgrade cost increased ― $500 → $650
X-X-1 Faster Throwing
X-X-2 Acid Pool
  •   Acid Pools & Faster Throwing upgrades have been swapped
X-X-2 Acid Pool
  •   Upgrade cost reduced ― $600 → $450
While the middle path T5 gets some use, T4 Transforming Tonic does not perform well for the low pierce amount so pierce has been increased.
— Update notes
Tiers Changes
X-4-X Transforming Tonic
X-5-X Total Transformation
  •   Transformed Alchemist: Pierce increased ― 4 → 6
Lead to Gold hasn’t been a competitive 3rd tier outside of special game modes and challenges, so we’ve added some more uniqueness by allowing it to truly live up to its description and deal enough damage to instantly ‘convert’ a Lead Bloon, children layers and all, also carrying on some value here in the later game by allowing this bonus to deal extra against DDTs as well.
— Update notes
Tiers Changes
X-X-3 Lead to Gold and further upgrades
  •   Main potion now does +9 damage to Lead properties
Alchemist has been given a small push towards the current underused Brew crosspath. Previously this crosspath only applied a benefit to Brew & Stimulant but now along with a buff to that, Acidic Mixture Dip will also gain a slight benefit from the crosspath.
— Update notes
Tiers Changes
2-2-0 Acidic Mixture Dip + Perishing Potions
3-2-0 Berserker Brew + Perishing Potions
4-2-0 Stronger Stimulant + Perishing Potions
  •   Acidic Mixture Dip: charges per stack increased ― 10 → 13
3-2-0 Berserker Brew + Perishing Potions
  •   Berserker Brew: charges per stack increased ― 35 → 40
4-2-0 Stronger Stimulant + Perishing Potions
  •   Stronger Stimulant: charges per stack increased ― 50 → 55 (undocumented)
Tiers Changes
2-X-X Acidic Mixture Dip and further upgrades
  •   Acidic Mixture Dip: now allows Cold attacks to damage Lead Bloons (bug fix)
  •   Acidic Mixture Dip: now allows Sharp attacks to damage Golden Bloons (bug fix)
  •   Acidic Mixture Dip: no longer allows Explosion attacks to damage DDTs (bug fix)
Tiers Changes
3-0-1 Berserker Brew + Faster Throwing and further upgrades
  •   Faster Throwing crosspath once again increases the rate of the Brew attack (bug fix)
X-3-X Unstable Concoction and further upgrades
  •   Unstable Concoction: Explosion damage no longer scales with Freeplay or HP modifiers in the Challenge Editor (undocumented)
  •   Unstable Concoction: Explosion damage for fortified blimps is the same as their unfortified counterparts (bug)
Acidic Mixture Dip did nothing for Glue Gunners but alchemist would waste it on them
— Update notes
Tiers Changes
2-X-X Acidic Mixture Dip and further upgrades
  •   Acidic Mixture Dip will no longer pick Glue Gunners as valid buff targets
X-3-X Unstable Concoction and further upgrades
  •   Unstable Concoction explosion now doubles damage for Fortified Bloon variants (bug fix)
Tiers Changes
All tiers
  •   Base potion attack: no longer has single-layer damage (undocumented)
Transforming Tonic has always had a large struggle with pierce, rather than directly throwing onto the base pierce we have added crosspathing pierce & rate benefits for transformation enjoyers to now choose between. Acidic Mixture Dip stacking from multiple alchemists / stalling tactics too effectively lowered use of other lead counter options in a way we didn’t like, so the maximum stacks here without Permabrew has been reduced considerably.
— Update notes
Tiers Changes
2-X-X Acidic Mixture Dip and further upgrades
  •   Acidic Mixture Dip max number of stacks reduced ― 200 → 40
1-4-0 Transforming Tonic + Larger Potions and further upgrades
  •   Transforming Tonic monster pierce increased ― 6 → 9
0-4-1 Transforming Tonic + Faster Throwing and further upgrades
  •   Transforming Tonic monster attack cooldown decreased ― 0.03s → 0.024s
Permanent Brew is strong in the right use, but just to let it live up to more of its potential without requiring a chinook we are improving its range. Transforming Tonic has been compared to being a worse but more expensive Turbo Charge, and that seems like a fair complaint. T5 has good niche uses, but T4 isn't worth the cost right now so we’re adding more juice to the tonic.
— Update notes
Tiers Changes
5-X-X Permanent Brew
  •   Range increased ― 45 → 65
X-4-X Transforming Tonic
X-5-X Total Transformation
  •   Monster laser: damage increased ― 2 → 3
    • Note: Does not affect x-5-x mini monsters
X-X-3 Lead to Gold and further upgrades
  •   Lead damage bonus will now correctly apply to Dreadbloon’s Lead layer (bug fix)
Alchemist Transforming Tonic is in a weird spot with the transformation unable to attack through walls when the base alchemist is able to. Also with this, including a QoL fix for the T5 that currently prevents transformed towers from functioning with target priority.
— Update notes
Tiers Changes
X-4-X Transforming Tonic
X-5-X Total Transformation
  •   Transformed alchemist can now ignore line of sight
X-5-X Total Transformation
  •   Towers transformed by Total Transformation will keep their Target Priority
  •   Alchemist x4x/x5x no longer loses the ability to fire through obstacles when crosspathed (bug fix)
Alchemist 220 stands out a little too effectively in the crosspath efficiency of Acidic Mixture Dip uptime combined with the reduced forced downtime at 320 and so is being reduced. Total Transformation alchemist when transformed have never been allowing damage to distribute to children layers of any targets, while this is an option we can use as an intended balance lever - we have instead decided to turn this blocker off as it isn't one we have used elsewhere and has made these upgrades perform far weaker against regular Bloons comparatively to Ceramic & MOAB-class due to damage buffs that have been given to transformed alchemists over time.
— Update notes
Tiers Changes
2-2-0 Acidic Mixture Dip + Perishing Potions and further upgrades
  •   Acidic Mixture Dip: Crosspath bonus to Acidic Mixture Dip buff reduced ― +3 → +2
    • Note: Shot amount reduced from 13 to 12
X-4-X Transforming Tonic
X-5-X Total Transformation
  •   Ability: Damage now soaks through layers
X-5-X Total Transformation
  •   Solved Quantum Entanglement (bug fix)
    • Note: Bug that allowed you to entangle towers together allowing you to do some really crazy things
Currently 031 is the only crosspath that realistically does anything for Unstable Concoction.
— Update notes
Tiers Changes
1-3-0 Unstable Concoction + Larger Potions and further upgrades
  •   Larger potions grants +1 pierce to Concoction ― 3 → 4
Acidic Mixture Dip is a strong offender removing many weaknesses in the game for exceptionally low of a cost. Acid Pools only adds anything to the tower when there are no Bloons around, so we’re making it a hybrid that benefits somewhat from this upgrade even while attacking normally.
— Update notes
Tiers Changes
2-X-X Acidic Mixture Dip
3-X-X Berserker Brew
4-X-X Stronger Stimulant
  •    Acidic Mixture dip max stacks reduced ― 40 → 30
X-X-2 Acid Pool and further upgrades
  •   Acid Pools every 5th attack against a Bloon drops an acid pool under the target
Tiers Changes
X-X-2 Acid Pool and further upgrades
  •   Alchemist pools last the correct duration (bug fix)
    • Note: Doesn't affect the acid pools that are spawned every 5th potion
As groups of Berserker Brew seem proportionally too good compared to upgrading to Stronger Stimulant in some cases, we are slightly shifting price down into T3, keeping the total price of Stronger Stimulant the same but adding up more if choosing to spam T3 Brews. Back to improving damage over time, Lead to Gold currently deals a large damage increase to Leads but only on the main impact of the attack. I’m sure you can see where we’re going with this.
— Update notes
Tiers Changes
3-X-X Berserker Brew
  •   Upgrade cost increased ― $1,250 → $1,300
4-X-X Stronger Stimulant
  •   Upgrade cost reduced ― $3,000 → $2,950
X-X-3 Lead to Gold and further upgrades
  •   Main attack: Damage-over-time now also deals bonus to Leads ― +0 → +9
Permabrew itself granting a range increase was annoying to prepare for and also somewhat hurt what was a very strong synergy for Chinook, so we’re taking away this bonus range but giving enough of a cash difference so that it can pair up with synergies like the Support Chinook more easily.
— Update notes
Tiers Changes
5-X-X Permanent Brew
  •   Upgrade cost reduced ― $60,000 → $48,000
  •   Range reduced ― 65 → 45
As a small tax to low tier Alchemists we are moving cost from Stronger Stimulant into Berserker Brew, this shouldn’t hurt much for general play and keeps un-discounted Stimulant the same. As this was an oversight Total Transformation is now being enabled to transform mermonkey.
— Update notes
Tiers Changes
3-X-X Berserker Brew
  •   Upgrade cost increased ― $1,300 → $1,400
4-X-X Stronger Stimulant
  •   Upgrade cost reduced ― $2,950 → $2,850
X-5-X Total Transformation
  •   Can now transform Mermonkeys
Middle path alchemists have complicated use cases that don’t bring enough of a payoff for the effort so the price is being reduced. Instead of being only a niche income source, the Rubber to Gold debuff is being reworked to now expire after a duration but for that duration it will nullify Bloon properties. Some seriously interesting build options from this.
— Update notes
Tiers Changes
X-3-X Unstable Concoction
  •   Upgrade cost reduced ― $3,000 → $2,800
X-4-X Transforming Tonic
  •   Upgrade cost reduced ― $4,500 → $4,200
X-X-4 Rubber to Gold
X-X-5 Bloon Master Alchemist
  •   Gold status effect duration decreased ― Infinite → 7s
  •   Gold status effect also disables Lead, Black, White, and Purple immunities for duration
    • Note: Gilded status does not affect damage bonuses to Bloon properties (e.g. Lead to Gold vs Lead)
People thought the last Rubber to Gold changes sounded cool, but were not particularly reliable so we’re improving the reliability of this attack with much faster attack rate and radius and also adding back some of the potion duration that was previously taken away.
— Update notes
Tiers Changes
X-X-4 Rubber to Gold
X-X-5 Bloon Master Alchemist
  •   Rubber to Gold potion: Attack cooldown reduced ― 5s → 2s
  •   Rubber to Gold potion: Radius increased ― 14 → 21
  •   Rubber to Gold potion: Duration increased ― 7s → 14s
1-0-4 Rubber to Gold + Larger Potions and further upgrades
  •   Rubber to Gold potion: Larger Potions grants +50% splash radius ― 14 → 31.5
The faster attack rate improved Rubber To Gold’s average cash generation too much, so this multiplier is being reduced to bring it more in line
— Update notes
Tiers Changes
X-X-4 Rubber to Gold
X-X-5 Bloon Master Alchemist
  •   Rubber to Gold effect: Cash per pop multiplier reduced ― ×3 → ×2
Tiers Changes
3-X-X Berserker Brew and further upgrades
  •   Brews should no longer fall on other towers that aren't the intended target (bug fix)
    • Note: Patches an exploit regarding quickly buying a Permanent Brew and landing brew on towers not normally able to accept brew (e.g. Etienne, Beast Handlers, non-5xx Villages)
Total Transformation can now transform Desperado, simple enough, & don’t worry transformed Desperado still gets all their usual damage bonuses against Marked Bloons, so we’re interested to see what people can do with that.
— Update notes
Tiers Changes
X-5-X Total Transformation
  •   Ability: Can now transform Desperados
Tiers Changes
3-X-X Berserker Brew
  • Description changed ― Throws special brew to nearby Monkeys giving them extra damage, range and attack speed. → Throws special brew to a nearby Monkey giving it increased damage, range, and attack speed briefly. Multiple Monkeys can be buffed at once.
Tiers Changes
X-5-X Total Transformation
  •   Ability: Resolved an issue were some transformed towers lost Camo detection (bug fix)
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