Pre-emptive Strike (BTD6)

For the upgrade in Bloons TD Battles 2, see Pre-emptive Strike (Battles 2).

Pre-emptive Strike

	Automatically triggers a powerful missile attack whenever MOAB-Class Bloon spawns from the Bloon entrance.

Tower		Path	Tier
Monkey Sub		2	5

XP cost	45,000
Cash cost	$24,650 — Easy $29,000 — Medium $31,320 — Hard $34,800 — Impoppable

← First Strike Capability

Nautic Siege Core →

Pre-emptive Strike is the Monkey Sub's path 2 tier 5 upgrade in Bloons TD 6. It grants Monkey Sub an additional missile attack that automatically fires one powerful missile at every MOAB-Class Bloon that enters the map. This missile deals 750 damage to the target but it does not soak through multiple layers.

In addition, its own First Strike ability is improved; its ability cooldown is reduced by 15s, increases initial impact damage from 10,000 to 20,000, and increases AoE damage from 350 to 1000. The main target now takes a total of 21,000 damage. This upgrade also doubles the attack speed of its Ballistic Missile attack (from 1 second to 0.5 seconds) and improves the damage and blast radius of its Ballistic Missiles, increasing their base damage from 3 to 10, bonus Ceramic damage from +3 to +20 (+21 with Breaking Ballistic), and bonus MOAB damage from +5 to +15.

Stats

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

This data was last updated for: version 55.1

Tower
Display range 50 units Footprint radius 7 units Targeting options First Last Close Strong
Pre-emptive missile Pierce 1 Max pierce 1 Damage 750 Damage type Normal Lifespan 0.1s Persists between rounds 1 Radius 30 units Filters Can only hit MOAB-Class Can only hit the target Ignores blockers Damage does not soak through layers Explosion Pierce 100 Damage 3 Damage type Explosion Lifespan 0.1s Persists between rounds 1 Radius 30 units Ignores blockers

Attack
Cooldown 0.75s Offset (X, Y, Z) 0, 25, 8.1 Targeting Depends on targeting option Targeting range 50 units Filters Cannot target Camo
Projectile Pierce 5 Damage 1 Damage type Normal Speed 170 units/s Seeking distance ∞ units Seeking angle 180° Seeking rotation speed 360 °/s Lifespan 1.5s Radius 2 units Filters Cannot hit Camo

Ballistic Missile
Cooldown 0.5s Offset (X, Y, Z) 0, -6, 11.2 Targeting First / Last / Close / Strong Targeting range 50 units Filters Cannot target Camo
Ignores blockers
Explosion Pierce 40 Damage 10 Damage to Ceramic (excl. Ceramic Armor Shell) +20 Damage to MOAB-Class +15 Damage type Explosion Lifespan 0.1s Persists between rounds 1 Radius 24 units Filters Cannot hit Camo Ignores blockers

Ability
Cooldown 45s
Missile Pierce 1 Max pierce 1 Damage 20,000 Damage type Normal Lifespan 0.1s Radius 5 units Filters Can only hit the target Ignores blockers Damage soaks through MOAB-Class layers Explosion Pierce 80 Damage 1,000 Damage type Normal Lifespan 0.1s Radius 65 units Ignores blockers Damage soaks through MOAB-Class layers

1-5-0

Tower
Display range 50 units → 60 units

Attack
Targeting range 50 units → 60 units

Ballistic Missile
Targeting range 50 units → 60 units

2-5-0

Attack
Can now target in range of other towers with shared range (including Camo)

Ballistic Missile
Can now target in range of other towers with shared range (including Camo)

0-5-1

Attack
Cooldown 0.75s → 0.375s Offset (X, Y, Z) 0, 25, 8.1 ↓ 2, 25, 8.5 (side 1) -2, 25, 8.5 (side 2)

Ballistic Missile
Cooldown 0.5s → 0.4375s

0-5-2

Attack
Projectile Max pierce ∞ → 1 Airburst dart Count 3 Pierce 5 Damage 1 Damage type Normal Speed 340 units/s Lifespan 0.2794s Radius 3 units Filters Cannot hit Camo

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	$37,755	$44,425	$47,980	$53,310	$26,429	$31,098	$33,586	$37,317
1-5-0	$37,865	$44,555	$48,120	$53,465	$26,506	$31,189	$33,684	$37,426
2-5-0	$38,290	$45,055	$48,660	$54,065	$26,803	$31,539	$34,062	$37,846
0-5-1	$38,135	$44,875	$48,465	$53,850	$26,695	$31,413	$33,926	$37,695
0-5-2	$38,985	$45,875	$49,545	$55,050	$27,290	$32,113	$34,682	$38,535

Strategy

This section was last updated for: version 51.0

Since version 51.0, Pre-emptive Strike offers a combination of high single-target damage and the capability to eliminate all DDTs through Round 100 when combined with Sub Commander. Despite improved ballistic missiles, it's still weak against Super Ceramic Bloons and far weaker than its cost in Ballistic Missile Subs. The reduced cooldown of its First Strike Capability allows for 2x usage against the Round 100 BAD on shorter maps, making it more versatile for being a strong BAD counter.

Pre-emptive Strike relies on Sub Commander to enable its missiles to one-shot Round 99 DDTs, and this lends itself to using Admiral Brickell and a sub-centric strategy. There, Pre-emptive Strike's ability to neutralize all DDTs removes any need for MIB or a de-Lead tower. It is far more expensive than its competitors in this role, but is completely automatic.

The 0-5-2 crosspath is preferred in most cases due to its greater damage, with 2-5-0 only being used on maps with distant alternating lanes such as Muddy Puddles where the tower would otherwise be unable to attack on most rounds.

Update history

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

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Version 4.0

•  Ballistic Missile: Bonus damage to Ceramics and MOAB-class increased ― +4 → +10

Version 5.0

•  Pre-emptive attack can no longer miss targets that have been slowed (e.g. glued or frozen) (bug fix)

Version 7.0

•  Dart: pierce increased by 1
  • Note: Does not affect Airburst Darts and above

Version 8.0

•  Ballistic Missile: Cooldown reduced ― 2s → 0.5s

Version 9.0

•  Price reduced ― $40,000 → $35,000

Version 12.0

•  Ability: damage to target reduced ― 16,700 → 10,000

Version 15.0

•  Upgrade cost reduced ― $35,000 → $32,000
•  Ability cooldown reduced ― 60s → 45s
  •  Also reduces initial cooldown ― 20s → 5s

Version 18.0

•  Range increased ― 42 → 60
•  Ballistic Missile's ballistic missiles are now limited to base range
  • Note: Advanced Intel unaffected

1-5-0

•  Longer Range now increases Ballistic Missile range

0-5-1

•  Ballistic Missile: attack cooldown reduced ― 0.5s → 0.425s

0-5-2

•  Ballistic Missile: attack cooldown reduced ― 0.5s → 0.25s

Version 19.0

•  Range reduced ― 60 → 50
•  Ballistic Missile explosion: No longer hits Camo Bloons without Camo detection (bug fix)

0-5-1

•  Ballistic Missile: Attack cooldown increased ― 0.425s → 0.4375s (undocumented)

0-5-2

•  Ballistic Missile: Attack cooldown increased ― 0.25s → 0.328125s (undocumented)

Version 26.0

“

As Airburst Darts alone already gives a huge benefit to the tower regardless of not applying any crosspath buff, some of the attack speed benefit this upgrade gave to 032 Ballistic Missile has instead been moved into the base 030 Missile. — Update notes

”

0-5-2

•  rate buff to Ballistic Missile reduced from 0.75x to 0.9x
•  Ballistic Missile: attack cooldown reduced ― 0.328125s → 0.39375s

Version 27.0

“

Ballistic Missile’s 230 crosspath has been in a confusing spot for a while where it functioned different to Advanced Intel, so it has been converted to function with Advanced Intel in the same way that any other Sub upgrade would. Additionally First Strike's secondary explosion has had its target count reduced slightly. — Update notes

”

•  Ability: Secondary AoE pierce decreased ― ∞ → 80

2-5-0

•  Ballistic Missile: Now benefits from Advanced Intel's targeting in the same way as the main attack
  •  Can now detect and hit Camo Bloons in range of towers that have Camo detection
  •  No longer has infinite range; can only target Bloons in range of other towers

Version 29.0

“

Increasing the strength of the basic Ballistic Missile attack on the Pre-Emptive Strike sub, so that it can bring a little more to the table after the initial single hit on each spawn. — Update notes

”

•  Missile: Damage increased ― 1 → 10
•  Missile: Bonus ceramic damage increased ― +10 → +15
•  Missile: Bonus MOAB damage increased ― +10 → +15

Version 30.0

“

Previously the rate increase to Ballistic Missile from crosspath was reduced due to Airburst having enough value on it’s own. This reason still applies as Airburst provides a significant power boost just on it’s own, so all rate increase has been removed from Airburst and applied directly to the base Ballistic Missile to help crosspath diversity slightly. — Update notes

”

•  Ability: Initial impact damage is now dealt before splash damage (bug fix)

0-5-2

•  Ballistic missile attack: attack cooldown increased due to Airburst Darts crosspath change ― 0.39375s → 0.4375s

Version 35.0

“

You guys seem to think this would be nice, so here it is. — Update notes

”

•  Ballistic Missile: attack splash radius increased ― 18 → 24

Version 39.0

“

The use of Pre-emptive with power mostly limited to damage only to top-layer leaves it in a small niche that can’t totally function on its own, so we’re slightly improving its ceramic cleanup and lowering the upgrade cost to allow more leeway for combinations to pair with it. — Update notes

”

•  Upgrade cost reduced ― $32,000 → $29,000
•   Pre-Emptive Strike missile bonus to Ceramic increased ― +15 → +20

Version 41.0

“

Ballistic Missiles always had excessive pierce for what it is, so this is being cut back on. — Update notes

”

•  Overall cost reduced by $50 (due to cost changes for previous tiers)
•  Ballistic Missile: Pierce reduced ― 100 → 60

Version 41.1

•  Pre-emptive Strike: no longer fires while frozen on Glacial Trail (bug fix)

Version 43.0

•  Pre-Emptive Strike: now works on Castle Revenge (bug fix)

Version 45.0

“

Ballistic Missile struggles greatly against standard Bloons since almost all of its power is in the Ceramic/Moab bonus, so we’re also balancing this consistency out with greater damage to standard targets while retaining the same total MOAB-Class power at the cost of pierce. — Update notes

”

•  No longer displays a Paragon pip without all tier 5 upgrades unlocked (bug fix)
•  Ballistic missile: pierce reduced ― 60 → 40

Version 48.0

•  Missile attack: now lands in the place of its intended target instead of the center of the map or over itself when the target is destroyed while the missile is in mid-air (bug fix)

Version 49.0

•  Ballistic missile attack: No longer ignores line of sight blockers (bug fix)
  • Note: Does not affect First Strike or Pre-emptive Strike abilities

Version 49.3

“

Due to a misunderstanding in v49 this was fixed as a bug, but it is intended that Ballistic Missile can be fired over walls so this has been enabled again — Update notes

”

•  Ballistic Missile: can now fire over walls again

Version 51.0

“

Pre-Emptive Strike’s ability is getting a serious boost, both in raw damage and AoE, so hopefully the upgrade can finally feel like a significant step up. — Update notes

”

•  First Strike ability: Damage to main target increased ― 10,000 → 20,000
•  First Strike ability: Area of effect damage increased ― 350 → 1,000

Gallery

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

Screenshots

• 
  Pre-Emptive Strike without Twin Guns
• 
  Pre-Emptive Strike with Twin Guns
• 
  Pre-emptive Strike additional attack against a DDT

Assets

• 
  Portrait
• 
  Upgrade icon
• 
  Insta Monkey icon

In other languages

Language	Name / Description	Notes
Arabic	غارة استباقية إطلاق هجوم صاروخي تلقائي قوي عند خروج البالونات من فئة منطاد "موآب" من مدخل البالونات.	—
Danish	Forebyggende angreb Udløser automatisk et kraftigt missilangreb når MOAB-klasse bloons genereres ved bloon-indgangen.	—
German	Präventivschlag Löst automatisch einen starken Raketenangriff aus, wenn ein Bloon der MOAB-Klasse am Bloon-Eingang erscheint.	—
Spanish	Ataque preventivo Un ataque de misil poderoso se dispara automáticamente siempre que un bloon clase MOAB aparece en la entrada de bloons.	—
Spanish (LA)	Ataque preventivo Un ataque de misil poderoso se dispara automáticamente siempre que un bloon clase MOAB aparece en la entrada de bloons.	—
Finnish	Ennalta ehkäisevä isku Automaattisesti laukaisee voimakkaan ohjuksen aina, kun MOAB-luokan blooni saapuu kenttään.	—
French	Attaque préventive Déclenche automatiquement une puissante attaque de missile lorsqu'un Bloon de classe MOAB apparaît via l'entrée des Bloons.	—
Italian	Attacco preventivo Attiva automaticamente un potente attacco missile ogniqualvolta fuoriesce un nuovo bloon dal varco di ingresso.	—
Japanese	先手攻撃 MOAB級ブルーンがブルーン入り口からスポーンする度に、自動的にパワフルなミサイル攻撃をトリガーする。	—
Korean	예방 공격 풍선 입구에서 MOAB급 풍선이 나타나면 자동으로 강력한 미사일 공격을 발동합니다.	—
Dutch	Preventieve aanval Activeert automatisch een krachtige raketaanval als er een MOAB-klasse Bloon verschijnt uit de Bloon-ingang.	—
Norwegian	Forhåndsangrep Utløser automatisk et mektig missilangrep når en bloon av MOAB-klasse fornyes fra bloon-inngangen.	—
Polish	Atak wyprzedzający Automatycznie uruchamia potężny atak rakietowy, gdy tylko blon klasy MOAB pojawia się w wejściu dla blonów.	—
Portuguese (Brazil)	Ataque Preventivo Aciona automaticamente um poderoso ataque de míssil sempre que Bloons Classe MOAB entrarem na tela.	—
Russian	Упреждающий удар Автоматически даёт могучий залп снарядов каждый раз, когда очередной шар класса MOAB появляется у входа.	—
Swedish	Förebyggande angrepp Aktiverar automatiskt en kraftfull missilattack när MOAB-klass-Bloons dyker upp från Blooningången.	—
Thai	จู่โจมชิงจังหวะ โจมตีด้วยมิสไซล์อันทรงพลังโดยอัตโนมัติเมื่อใดก็ตามที่บลูนคลาส MOAB เกิดจากทางเข้าบลูน	—
Turkish	Önleyici Saldırı Bloon girişinden MOAB Sınıfı Bloon canlandığında otomatik olarak güçlü bir füze saldırısı etkisi tetiklenir.	—
Chinese (simplified)	先敌出击 当气球入口生成MOAB级气球时，自动发起一次强力导弹攻击。	—
Chinese (traditional)	先發製人 MOAB級氣球從氣球入口進入時，自動觸發功能強大的飛彈。	—
This list was last updated for: version 43.1