Dartling Gunner Best Path BTD6 (Tier-5)

The Dartling Gunner is the newest addition to the Bloons TD 6 roster and damn is it one of the most powerful towers I’ve had the privilege of using, often leading me to place it on any map I am playing on.

The Dartling Gunner allows players to damage bloons globally, though players will need to direct the Dartling Gunner’s attack in order to do this. 

It should be noted that Dartling Gunners will still be obstructed by Line of View obstacles, meaning that players will have to still try to place the Dartling Gunner high up or in an optimal position like a Sniper Monkey.

The nice thing about the Dartling Gunner is the fact that players can essentially lock where it shoots, becoming very similar to a Mortar Monkey or Heli Pilot.

The Dartling Gunner, being one of the most powerful Towers players can place, will allow the player to use the Dartling Gunner solo the majority of maps for many rounds before falling off.

The only thing players will have to keep in mind when playing with a Dartling Gunner is that it is quite expensive, essentially meaning that players will need to cough up a pretty penny in order to gain enough damage to continually damage stronger bloons.

The following guide will take you through everything you when choosing a Dartling Gunner.

PATH 1 TIER-5 DARTLING GUNNER – RAY OF DOOM

The Ray of Doom is is by far one of the strongest Dartling Gunners players can upgrade to as it deals the most consistent damage players can get in the game.

The Ray of Doom can deal 5 damage every 0.25 seconds to normal bloons and 25 damage every 0.25 seconds to all MOAB-class bloons, being some of the highest damage players can deal in the game.

Players will also be able to affect any bloons it damages with the Laser Shock status effect, essentially being able to damage 15 damage every 0.1 seconds for 5 seconds.

The nicest thing about the Ray of Doom Dartling Gunner is the fact that it can pierce a maximum of 1,000 bloons at a time, essentially having a fairly infinite amount of pierce in comparison to other towers.

If players are looking for some good DPS with very little lag, the Ray of Doom tower is the best option for you, only being weak against DDTs and BADs, simply because it does not do as much damage as it’s counterparts.

When it comes to placing other towers next to the Ray of Doom Dartling Gunner players should think about having a Monkey Village with Jungle Drums (2/-/-) or an Engineer Monkey with Overclock in order to allow the Ray of Doom Dartling Gunner in order to deal more damage using the Ray of Doom Dartling Gunner.

Players can also place an Alchemist with Permanent Brew (5/-/-) in order to raise the attack speed of the Ray of Doom, again in order to deal extra damage to bloons.

When it comes to cross pathing a Ray of Doom Dartling Gunner, players will benefit most from cross pathing with Path 2 as doing so will provide the Tower with 33% attack speed as well as Camo detection.

Unfortunately players will not benefit from upgrading with Path 3 as this only provides the player with faster rotation speed of the tower as well extra pierce which is definitely not useful on a Tower that already has a great amount of pierce.

Players can purchase the Cross the Streams Monkey Knowledge in order to have two Path 1 Dartling Gunners with Plasma Accelerator (4/-/-) or above to create a plasma pool that deals extra damage over time, essentially raising the usefulness of this upgrade path.

PATH 2 TIER-5 DARTLING GUNNER – M.A.D.

The M.A.D. or MOAB Assured Destroyer is as the name describes, a Tower that deals massive damage to MOAB-class bloons.

The M.A.D. fires significantly slower, though has the ability to shoot between two hands instead of one.

Due to the fact that M.A.D. Dartling Gunners relying on two hands instead of one, they actually lose some of their accuracy, which isn’t that big of a problem as MOAB-class bloons are much larger than the normal bloon.

M.A.D.s are very impressive towers being able to deal only 3 damage to bloons, though a total of 753 damage to MOAB-class bloons per each missile.

The most impressive thing about the M.A.D. Dartling Gunner is that it can shoot out a missile from each arm every 0.4 seconds.

The M.A.D. Dartling Gunner retains the Rocket Storm ability, though it can now shoot 19 waves of larger missiles for 9 seconds, which shoot out every 0.467 seconds damaging up to 16 bloons at a time.

I know, I know, I just said that the Ray of Doom Dartling Gunner was powerful against MOAB-class bloons, however the M.A.D. is truly where it’s at, essentially being able to carry players through hard rounds, being able to shred through DDTs in a matter of seconds.

The M.A.D only has two major downfalls, being that it is quite costly to obtain and that it cannot manage lower tier bloons very well, though these cons are severely outweighed by the massive MOAB-shredding capabilities that many other Towers are unable to obtain.

The M.A.D. does not need very much support, though similar to most other Towers they can greatly benefit from having a Monkey Village with Jungle Drums (2/-/-), an Alchemist Monkey with Berserker Brew (3/-/-) or an Engineer Monkey with Overclock (-/4/-) in order to simply deal more damage.

The M.A.D. can technically be upgraded using either upgrade path, though in most situations it is recommended that a player selects a cross path with Path 1.

Path 1 will allow the Dartling Gunner to deal more damage to bloons, especially over time, and will also provide the M.A.D. with more focussed damage, though realistically not essential to the M.A.D. as mentioned.

Path 3 provides players with some extra pierce to their attacks, essentially allowing the player to deal with clumped MOAB-class bloons a bit better than what they previously could do, though this does come at a risk of dealing less damage.

I strongly recommend that a player uses Path 1.

By far the M.A.D. is my favourite, though they are expensive.

PATH 3 TIER-5 DARTLING GUNNER – BLOON EXCLUSION ZONE

The Path 3 tier-5 Dartling Gunner is my least favourite Dartling Gunner as it does not provide players with a whole lot of use, only being useful for hoards of small bloons.

The Bloon Exclusion Zone has a fairly rapid attack speed, coming in at a shot every 0.283 seconds buy shoots from 6 barrels.

Players will receive 12 shots from their buckshots each dealing 8 damage and the top two barrels being tall enough to completely ignore all Line of Sight obstructions.

The unfortunate thing about the Bloon Exclusion Zone Dartling Gunner is that it cannot deal damage to any Lead Bloons or Frozen Bloons, meaning that players will want to place a Monkey Village with Monkey Intelligence Bureau (-/3/-) in order to make the best use of it, though players can also use an Alchemist Monkey with Stronger Stimulant (3/-/-) to receive a similar outcome.

When it comes to cross pathing a Bloon Exclusion Zone Dartling Gunner, players are recommended to use Path 2 as this will greatly increase the attack speed of the Tower, essentially allowing the tower to deal more damage to bloons.

If players choose to place a Bloon Exclusion Zone Dartling Gunner they are recommended to place it near the front of the map as this will help the Dartling Gunner deal the most damage to bloons, especially before they begin leaking.

Players will be able to wipe out hoards of bloons before they overwhelm the exit of the map.

CONCLUSION

When it comes to using a Dartling Gunner all of them are powerful, especially due to the fact that players will be able to control them to attack anywhere on the map, though it’s quite obvious that some are more powerful than others.

In most cases I will use a Path 1 Dartling Gunner as it has the highest pierce and can deal some massive damage to bloons of all types.

I often pair a Path 1 Dartling Gunner with a Path 2 Dartling Gunner simply to cover my bases for all types of bloons, simply because the Path 2 Dartling Gunner is so powerful against MOAB-class bloons.

I truthfully would always place a Path 2 Dartling Gunner if you have the opportunity to do so, simply because of how powerful it is, though I must admit that it is very pricy in comparison to the majority of towers.

When using either of these towers I highly recommend unlocking the Emergency Unlock Monkey Knowledge as this will allow players to quickly swing all locked Dartling Gunners on screen in order to capture bloons before they leak.

In most cases I do not use a Path 3 Dartling Gunner as they do not deal a whole lot of damage and are used to clear clumps of bloons, which can essentially be done with many other towers.

So, I’m curious, what’s your favourite Dartling Gunner? Do you find the Path 2 Dartling Gunner to expensive or do you think that it is worth the price?

Have you found that the Path 3 Dartling Gunner out beats any other Towers?

Let me know in the comments below!