The Monkey Buccaneer is by far my favourite tower when it comes to all towers in BTD6 simply because of how powerful and versatile it is.
Similar to the Sniper Monkey, the Monkey Buccaneer has three very different types of upgrade paths, one being focussed on global damage, the other being focussed on Lead Bloon and MOAB-class shredding and the last being a money generator.
The nice thing about the Monkey Buccaneer is that it is very similar to the Tack Shooter in the sense that it will be able to fire in multiple directions, though unlike the Tack Shooter, the Monkey Buccaneer is only able to fire in two directions, essentially only being able to fire in either side of the ship.
When it comes to selecting which Monkey Buccaneer upgrade path players want to upgrade to it will depend on what map players are currently on and what other towers players are hoping to place in order to either empower the Monkey Buccaneer or support the Monkey Buccaneer.
The following guide will take you through everything you need to know about which upgrade path players should choose when levelling up to tier-5.
PATH 1 TIER-5 MONKEY BUCCANEER – CARRIER FLAGSHIP
The Carrier Flagship is by far my favourite upgrade when it comes to a Monkey Buccaneer as it allows players to deal a great deal of damage to all bloons on the screen.
Similar to the previous upgrade path, the Carrier Flagship summons 3 planes that have global damage, following bloons and damaging them rapidly using darts.
The Carrier Flagship continues to have an anti-MOAB homing missile that fires every 1.5 seconds with 4 pierce and 30 damage per shot.
The Carrier Flagship will support all water based towers, including Monkey Subs, Monkey Aces, Sun Temples that are placed in the water, as well as Heroes that can be placed in water such as Admiral Brickell and Pat Fusty, by giving them 18% attack speed.
The coolest thing about the Carrier Flagship is the fact that it provides two platforms for any types of Towers to be placed which gain a bypass all Line of Sight obstructions even if the Carrier Flagship is experiencing obstructers itself.
It should be noted that this is only true for the top platform and not the main deck as Towers on the main deck will essentially have the same vision as the Carrier Flagship itself, though this isn’t always true as on maps like Bazaar and High Finance both platforms can be used.
As for the planes I mentioned earlier, they will shoot darts with 14 pierce and 2 damage to all bloons, including MOAB-class bloons as well 5 damage to Ceramic Bloons.
It should be noted that unfortunately the planes will not be affected by any Alchemistbuffs, essentially meaning that they will not be able to gain any Lead Bloon shredding or any damage or pierce increases.
Most notably, the Carrier Flagship can be used to place an Ice Monkey with Arctic Wind in order to have it terraform the water allowing players to place more towers nearby to either deal more damage or support the Towers placed on the Carrier Flagship.
While the Carrier Flagship excels at empowering other water-based towers and should primarily be used on maps with a great amount of water, players can still rely on a Carrier Flagship to deal good amounts of damage on maps that have small sources of water, this being due to the high amount of global damage players will receive from the planes that are deployed from the Carrier Flagship.
The Carrier Flagship can be cross pathed with either Path 2 or Path 3, though which path a player chooses will simply depend on whether a player needs extra Camo detection or if they’ve placed a Hero like Etienne who will allow players to gain Camo detection and thus can choose to empower the Carrier Flagship with more damage output.
Path 2 is an extremely viable option for players to cross path as the Path 1 upgrades players will receive from the Carrier Flagship will empower the Grape Shots and Hot Shots upgrades, essentially making it so the Grapes will shoot at double the speed with double the ammo.
Quite frankly, I love placing Etienne and a (5/2/-) Carrier Flagship as these deal a great deal of damage especially to Lead Bloons and Ceramic Bloons.
I don’t usually do this cross path without Etienne or a Monkey Village with Radar Scanner (-/2/-) nearby, simply because the Carrier Flagship can deal a massive amount of damage to Camo Bloons, especially if players are at risk of letting the Camo Bloons leak.
In most cases where players need some extra range or Camo detection a (5/-/2) Carrier Flagship is quite essential. I will say, I try to avoid this cross path, especially as I place Etienne in the majority of my maps simply because I love when all towers have Camo detection, especially on a global level.
PATH 2 TIER-5 MONKEY BUCCANEER – PIRATE LORD
While I originally knocked the Pirate Lord because the Carrier Flagship is so powerful, I have to admit that the Pirate Lord is honestly an amazing upgrade for players to upgrade to as it provides the Monkey Buccaneer the ability to pull down 3 MOAB-class bloons from the sky at the same time.
The most notable thing about the Pirate Lord upgrade is the fact that players will be able to pull down any MOAB-class bloon except for BADs. Yes, this means that players will be able to grab ZOMGs as well as DDTs now, making the Pirate Lord one of the best upgrades for players to purchase.
The Pirate Lord ability will grab the strongest 3 MOAB-class bloons on the map, meaning that players will not have to worry if there are multiple types of MOAB-class bloons on screen at the same time.
It should be noted that ZOMGs will require two of the hooks from Pirate Lords.
It should also be noted that a Pirate Lord does not need Crow’s Nest (-/-/2) in order to pull down MOAB-class bloons.
One of the nicest things about the Pirate Lord upgrade is the fact that it will provide players double the cash that they are worth upon pulling them from the sky.
Players can essentially pair up a Pirate Lord Monkey Buccaneer with a Monkey Town (-/-/3) to add 50% bonus cash, Monkey City (-/-/4) to add 50% cash or an Alchemist Monkey with Rubber to Gold (-/-/4) to cause the Pirate Lord to gain 3x the profit all for a total of 6x the profit.
The lovely thing about the Pirate Lord ability is that players can immediately use the Pirate Lord ability meaning that players can essentially cheese the system by selling and placing a Pirate Lord multiple times to affect MOAB-class bloons throughout a round.
It should be noted that players will not be able to immediately use a Pirate Lord ability if they just used the lower tier Monkey Pirates ability.
As the Pirate Lord is a Path 2 upgrade it will also affect the Grape Shots, Darts and Bombs from the previous tiers.
All shots from the body of the Pirate Lord will attack twice as fast and grapes will now deal 5 damage to all bloons with an additional 5 damage to Ceramic Bloons.
Players will be able to cross path their Pirate Lord with either path, though similar to the Carrier Flagship, this will heavily depend on whether a player requires Camo detection or not.
The reality is that players will not need Camo detection in many cases when it comes to the Pirate Lord, simply because players will still be able to pull down DDTs from the sky when using the Pirate Lord’s special ability. For that reason, Path 1 becomes the best option as Path 1 will simply increase the damage output of the Pirate Lord’s basic attacks as Path 1 upgrades will both increase the amount of projectiles that come from the Monkey Buccaneer as well as the speed in which they come.
Players can essentially place a Monkey Village with Radar Scanner (-/2/-) or Etienne to make up for the Camo detection.
A (2/5/-) Pirate Lord is by far one of the best Ceramic Bloons destroyer in the game.
When it comes to cross pathing with Path 3, players will lose a great deal damage, though they will gain a good amount of attack range as well as Camo detection.
While Camo detection comes in handy for Pirate Lords simply because of Lead Camo Bloons will appear in later rounds.
The Pirate Lord works best when there is a Bloontonium Reactor as this will reduce it’s ability cooldown by 15% or if upgraded into an Energizer Monkey Sub it will reduce by 50%.
PATH 3 TIER-5 MONKEY BUCCANEER – TRADE EMPIRE
The Trade Empire Buccaneer is a useful upgrade for players who are looking for a bit of extra cash.
The Trade Empire Monkey Buccaneer pulls in a modest $800 each round, or $820 if players have unlocked the Trade Agreement Monkey Knowledge.
The Trade Empire Monkey Buccaneer does not pull a lot of cash in on it’s own, but it will empower all Monkey Buccaneers to gain more cash, each gaining an extra $20 every round for every Merchantman, Favoured Trades or Trade Empire Monkey Buccaneer.
Players will only be able to empower a maximum of 20 ships to gain more income, though this does stack when players have a number of ships on their map.
If players have 20 ships out they will get $600 each round from Merchantmen, $600 from Favoured Trades and $800 for the Trade Empire with $900 at the end of the round.
Players can pair these up with up with Central Markets, each giving a Merchantman or above 10% more income.
Players will rejoice in knowing that the Trade Empire will also provide all Merchantmen, Favoured Trades and Trade Empire Monkey Buccaneers 1 extra damage to all attacks including another extra damage towards Ceramic Bloons and MOAB-class bloons.
When it comes to cross pathing a Trade Empire Monkey Buccaneers, players will probably want to choose Path 2.
Path 1 is a fairly weak upgrade path for players to choose as it does not provide players with a whole lot of damage, even though it’s rapid damage.
Path 2 is by far the stronger of the upgrades as Monkey Buccaneers will have both AoE damage as well as Lead Bloon and Ceramic Bloon shattering power, making these quick ships quite powerful, becoming especially powerful against those with Camo properties.
The honest truth is that Path 3 Monkey Buccaneers are the least powerful upgrades in the game, though realistically they are decent money generators especially if players are able to build a number of Path 3 Monkey Buccaneers.
I can’t say that I’ve ever relied on a hoard of Path 3 Monkey Buccaneers and truthfully the few times that I tried it, I lost the game, which turned me off of even trying it any further.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, players have some great options when it comes to selecting Monkey Buccaneers.
Path 1 provides players with a great deal of global damage and can essentially help players deal with MOAB-class bloons both because of the homing MOAB-class missiles as well as the regular darts that fly from the planes that are launched from the Carrier Flagship,
By far I find the Path 1 Monkey Buccaneer to be the most helpful tower as it can ensure that no bloons leak.
If possible, I will always have a Path 1 Monkey Buccaneer placed on any map with water just because of the amount of damage support it provides.
Sometimes Path 1 Monkey Buccaneers can be extremely useful even if the bloon does not have a whole lot of range as players will not need the base radius of the Monkey Buccaneer.
The Path 2 Pirate Lord is my second favourite Monkey Buccaneer out of them all especially due to ability to shatter through Lead Bloons, Ceramic Bloons and ability to rip MOAB-class bloons out of the sky.
The only reason I don’t use the Path 2 Pirate Lord more frequently is simply because of the range it lacks from the base tower.
Path 2 Pirate Lords are ultimately great towers to place when players are worried that a bloon will leak and can also come in handy when players do not have a whole lot of range to play with as players can force the Path 2 Monkey Buccaneer to deal rapid damage in a cone shape.
As players will be able to deal rapid damage to bloons when using a Path 2 Monkey Buccaneer players will often be readily able to damage bloons in concentration, meaning that players will only need to rely on the ability the Pirate Lord has.
Finally, Path 3 Trade Empire Monkey Buccaneers don’t see much use since they are actually the weakest type of Monkey Buccaneers in the game.
While it’s nice to get a good amount of cash from the Trade Empire Monkey Buccaneers or any Path 3 Monkey Buccaneers, expect lots of bloons to leak as they do not have AoE damage and actually have very low damage comparatively to the other Monkey Buccaneers.
So I’m curious, is the Path 1 Monkey Buccaneer also your favourite or have I got it all wrong?
Do you just love the Pirate Lord ability too much to let it go?
Also, does anyone have any extra tips for how to successfully use a hoard of Path 3 Monkey Buccaneers because maybe I’ll give them another shot!
Let me know in the comments below!
