The Dartling Gunner has been nerfed significantly in Bloons TD Battles 2 Update 1.7.1, now available on all platforms.
For those who don’t know, the Dartling Gunner has been pretty much part of the meta since Bloons TD Battles 2 was released. One of the reasons why is that its main attacks can pierce through targets, especially when you get the Rocket Storm upgrade.
As such, developer Ninja Kiwi implemented some balancing adjustments that nerfed this military-class tower.
First, the Dartling Gunner’s base price is increased to $800. The Bloon Area Denial System also got a price hike, with this upgrade now costing $14,500 instead of $12,000 previously.
But the biggest nerf is that the x4x Rocket Storm upgrade has its pierce boost to rockets and explosions removed. This basically means that the Dartling Gunner’s projectiles no longer hit as many targets as they once did, which severely reduces the amount of overall damage this tower can deal.
Patch Notes
- Spaced Rainbows price increased to $85
- Mortar Monkeys can be set to “Follow Mouse” and “Follow Touch” on desktop and mobile respectively. This targeting mode causes the mortar to always aim at the cursor on desktop or the last place the player touched on mobile.
- Xx4 Bloon Trap
- Manual targeting of the trap is now unlocked with the x1x Larger Service Area upgrade.
- Level 5: Pushback from Slap attack reduced by 33%
- Level 5: Pushback from Slap attack reduced by 33%
- Level 8: Chilling Cheer: when ability is active, x3x Ice Monkey slows moab class by its usual amount rather than a reduced amount.
- Level 10 ability: Radial burst radius increased 30 > 50
- Level 10 ability: Radial burst freeze duration increased 2s > 4s (1s > 2s for MOAB class)
- Level 20 ability: Radial burst radius increased 70 > 90,
- Level 20 ability: Radial burst damage increased 30 > 50 and additional damage to MOAB class increased +30 > +50
- Level 20 ability: Radial burst freeze duration increased 3s >10s (1.5s > 5s for MOAB class)
- Fixed Pat Fusty’s slam attack not creating an area of effect if it destroyed the targeted bloon.
- Fixed non-water towers placed on water via other means (e.g. Ice Monkey) getting the 5xx Buccaneer’s Flagship buff.
- Fixed Sentai Churchill’s unlock scene showing when unlocking Captain Churchill
- Fixed Right Shift key not working as a modifier on keybinds on Mac (Desktop only)
- Fixed spotlights on ZOMG Superdome showing two beams each.
- Fixed Fusty the Snowman allowing Ice Monkeys to slow BADs.
- Fixed xx2 Spike Factory set to Smart Targeting not spawning spikes if there are no bloons nearby.
So, what can you say about the nerfs made to the Dartling Gunner? Are they justified? Is the Dartling Gunner completely useless now?
Bloons TD Battles 2 Update 1.7.1 is available on Android, iOS, and PC.
