Tower

Towers, also called monkeys or monkey towers,^{[fn 1]} are units in the Bloons TD series. Most towers are deployed on the map by the player and cost cash to place. Most towers perform their actions automatically, but some can be controlled by the player more directly, such as by following the cursor or touch controls. Many towers can be upgraded by spending more cash to enhance their capabilities or unlock new functions.

Towers are a broad classification that encompass all kinds of gameplay elements, including Heroes, placeable Powers and Special Agents, and sub-towers. Most towers focus on defending against Bloons by dealing damage, but they can have many different roles, such as stalling Bloons, generating resources that assist the player, or buffing other towers, and can have multiple roles at the same time.

Tower mechanics

Attacks

An attack is the process of a tower selecting a target and performing an action, typically aiming at a Bloon and firing projectiles at it. Towers can have multiple attacks, each with their own cooldown, which determines their attack speed. Attacks can have multiple functions, including:

Dealing damage to Bloons
Applying effects to Bloons (glue, damage over time, etc)
Buffing other towers

Range

Towers have a range stat that determines how far away they can target their attacks. A tower's range is indicated by a transparent circle centered on the tower; the numerical range value represents the radius of this circle. Typically, attacking towers should prioritize having as much track length as possible within their range, so that they have the best opportunity to attack Bloons as they pass by.

Footprint

A tower's footprint is the invisible area of space that it is considered to occupy. Usually, towers cannot be placed such that their footprint overlaps other towers or terrain it cannot be placed on.

Activated Abilities

Beginning in Bloons TD 5, towers can have Activated Abilities, which are moves that are typically very powerful or offer strong utility, but must be manually activated and have a cooldown between uses. Abilities can have many different effects, such as attacking Bloons, buff other towers, generate cash.

In Bloons TD 6, abilities are usually first unlocked once a tower is upgraded to tier 4 in the middle path, with the tier 5 upgrade improving the ability further. Most Heroes have two or three Activated Abilities that they unlock at levels 3, 7 (if they have three abilities), and 10.

Buffs

Buffs are effects applied to towers which modify aspects of said tower such as attack pierce, attack damage, or tower range.

Some instances that can provide buffs are the Monkey Village, Engineer Monkey (Overclock), and Alchemist (Acidic Mixture Dip/Berserker Brew/Stronger Stimulant).

Some Heroes can also apply buffs to other towers, such as Gwendolin (Heat it up/Pyrotechnics Expert), Obyn Greenfoot (Nature's Wrath/Nature's Clarity), and Geraldo (Jar of Pickles/See Invisibility Potion/Sharpening Stone/Bottle of 'Gerry's Fire' Hot Sauce)

Select Paragons can also apply buffs to other towers, including other paragons. The Glaive Dominus grants an attack speed bonus to all primary towers, the Ascended Shadow grants Camo detection to all towers, and the Master Builder can apply an area of effect overclock to other towers.

Sub-tower

A sub-tower is a tower created by another tower. Most sub-towers are temporarily created by an attack or Activated Ability from a parent tower and have mechanics that interact with their parent towers.

List of towers by game

Bloons Tower Defense

Dart Tower
Tack Tower
Ice Tower
Bomb Tower
Super Monkey

Bloons Tower Defense 2

Dart Monkey
Tack Shooter
Ice Ball
Cannon
Boomerang
Super Monkey

Bloons Tower Defense 3

Bloons TD 4

Bloons TD 5

Bloons TD 6

Primary

Military

Magic

Support

Heroes