u/qwertyxp2000

A large portion of these balance changes are designed to address the powerful strategies in the game such as Ocyn-Sub, Heli-Ice-Super, Engi-Dartling, and Benjamin-Dartling, Gwen late-game, reducing instances of total defense for cheap (such as reducing the pierce of Ice Shards, MOAR, and 203 Cluster, nerfing speed of Reactor, and limiting early-game unrushability of pre-R9 Ben+Dartling), and buffing Wizard, as well as smoothen out crosspath use cases for each tower.

MAD seems to be in a position where the long duration of MAD ability makes it too dependent on speed buffs to become really strong, but without removing speed synergy I reckon the duration of Rocket Storm at T4 and T5 should be shorter. Overclock duration should be reduced by 15 seconds on all upgrade tiers, which would address things like Bcentral/MWS snowballing too much, T5 powerhouses being extremely powerful, and now Overclock requiring more timing by nerfing the interactions on T5's more than lower tiers. I don't disagree with reducing the speed bonus on T5's from +66.67% to +50% and income of Farm T5's from +50% to +35%, but that would complicate balance and make the design more awkward.

Wizard was also consistently one of the weakest towers by being overnerfed in its early-game, so it needed some buffs to make it more comparable to other early-game options even with its Purple weaknesses.

Gwen buff to Level 17 was also far too much of a benefit in a single level, with just a further +1 damage to every single late-game tower such as Ninjas, Supers, and Helis being too much. I didn't want to completely lose that +1 damage to the lesser used combinations like with Dragon's Breaths, so I demoted the +1 damage to all attacks to +1 to all fire-type attacks.

More could be done to reduce the late-game strength of Ice-Super synergy, but at the very least the mid-game nerfs to Ice should reduce the income snowball and make Ice Shards more layerable, and the T2 and below Ice nerf would make lower-tier Ice less of a carry against things like Grouped Blues and Greens. Heli nerf to Chinook cost is also justified because of the hidden value of stalling rounds for more income, instead of just pure damage like in the case of Supply Drop and Jungle's Bounty.

Ocyn+Reactor nerfs also limit their capabilities to destroy every grouped rush without destroying their synergies nor making Reactor too bad on non-Ocyn Heroes. Ocyn nerf to his Coral in early levels also make him much more rushable on maps that share the same sent+natural lanes (e.g. Star; note that maps with non-sharing sent+natural lanes do cause Bloons to destroy the coral pierce before it can grow).

Sniper's Large Calibre was also never the main problem with Sniper, because most of the time buying Full Metal Jacket would be enough to chip early White and Black Bloons into weak enough Blues, and base Sniper for Purples for applications such as helping Wizard. Outright popping White/Black/Purple and Lead/Zebra isn't particularly strong when players can simply layer rush Rainbows into other fast rushes to counter the Sniper, and Large Calibre can't one-shot Rainbows nor deal damage fast enough against constant Spaced Ceramics compared to the likes of a 0-2-2 Boomerang, for instance.

The appeal of Tight Rushes are mostly from having extreme amounts of multi-child Bloons, which is why they're so popular in choke rushes. After Round 30, that multi-childing behavior stops and then Tight Leads start to completely lose their value, and Tight Ceramics are significantly weaker even when accounting for higher Super Ceramic health. Tight MOABs and Tight BFBs also feel they've dropped off after Round 30 begins, but not as much.

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Bloon Sends:

• Camo: 1.75x -> 1.5x
• Tight Leads - Round 30: $1200 -> $300
• Tight Ceramics - Round 30: $3200 -> $1000
• Tight MOABs - Round 30: $4500 -> $3500
• Tight BFBs - Round 30: $10,000 -> $8000
• 💭 Camo Rushes are difficult to justify past Round 12 and were mostly sent purely to "test Camo" more than as a combo rush that is better than the currently cheaper Regrow property. Camo Regrow rushes were similarly seen as inferior most of the time. On the other hand, Round 30's reduced multi-layered offspring devalues a lot of Tight rushes, especially Tight Leads and Tight Ceramics, so these are given a cost reduction by that point.

Dart:

• 4xx: Pierce 60 -> 50
• 5xx: Mini-juggernaut damage 1 -> 2
• 5xx: Mini-juggernaut pierce 100 -> 50
• xx1: $90 -> $50
• xx3: pierce 7 -> 6 (carries into xx4 but not xx5)
• x1x: $100 -> $125
• x2x: $100 -> $125
• x3x: $350 -> $300
• 💭 Juggernaut is a little too good at carrying a defense. While Ultra-Juggernaut was never a major balance concern, the pierce amounts are still too high per shot when it already excels against Fortified and Lead rushes. Triple Shot's standalone cost being the same as Engineer's Double Gun has never sat right, and Dart's middle crosspath has been the dominant choice most of the time.

Boomerang:

• x2x: Cooldown 0.675s -> 0.6s (x3x unaffected at 0.238s, xx4+ heavy kylies unaffected)
• 3xx: Pierce 40 -> 30
• 4xx: Pierce 80 -> 60 (5xx unaffected)
• 5xx: Orbital Ceramic and MOAB-class bonuses +5 -> +8
• 5xx: Orbital no longer gains +5 Fortified damage
• 0x3: Pierce 18 -> 15
• 103: Pierce 26 -> 25
• 203: Pierce 36 -> 35
• xx4: $3400 -> $3600
• 0x5: Heavy kylie pierce 300 -> 250
• 105: Heavy kylie pierce 400 -> 375
• 205: Heavy kylie pierce 520 -> 525
• xx5: Explosion pierce 40 -> 30
• 105: Explosion pierce 40 -> 45
• 205: Explosion pierce 50 -> 60
• 💭 Ricochet and MOAR have too much value at carrying a defense for how little must be invested, and we also feel its x2x crosspath is neglected. Kylie is good enough to the point that it doesn't need so much pierce to begin with if not going top crosspath. Press is too effective for how cheaply it defends early 20s rushes. Glaive Lord and Domination are receiving reworks to improve their interactions with specific rushes.

Bomb:

• 000: $525 -> $475
• 1xx: $350 -> $300
• 2xx: $650 -> $600
• 3xx: $1200 -> $1100
• 102: Frag pierce gains +1
• 202: Frag damage gains +1 (302 unchanged at 3)
• 302: Frag pierce 2 -> 4
• 402: Frag pierce 3 -> 6
• 502: Frag quantity 16 -> 32, pierce 20 -> 25
• xx3: $900 -> $1000
• 103: Pierce bonus +4 -> +2 (12 -> 10)
• 203: Pierce bonus +4 -> +2 (total: +8 -> +4; 16 -> 12)
• 💭 Cluster Bombs excels too well against both spaced and grouped rushes, while base Bomb is very weak and the Frag crosspath doesn't scale very well on top path. Heavy Bombs already adds a very strong buff, so without making 2-0-3 too strong the cost of both top path upgrades are lowering in exchange for lesser pierce bonuses. Really Big Bombs is also not really big value for how many weaknesses it can have.

Ice:

• 000: Pierce 40 -> 30 (3xx unaffected at 40, x3x unaffected at 100, xx3 unaffected at 30)
• x1x: Freeze duration 2.2s -> 2s (x2x unaffected at 2.2s)
• 3xx: Shard pierce 3 -> 2 (carries into later upgrades)
• x3x: $2900 -> $3200
• x5x: Ability cooldown 20s -> 30s
• x5x: Ability duration 12s -> 10s
• x5x: $18000 -> $22500
• 💭 Lower-tier Ice has proven too strong at base compared to Bomb and Mortar which are supposed to be the group specialists, being the easiest answer to most grouped rushes like Reds and Grouped Blues, and so its pierce is limited until Tier 3. Enhanced Freeze is getting a small freeze reduction to add value to Deep Freeze. Ice Shards is currently so strong that it negates almost all opportunity to layer rushes. Still an extremely solid upgrade, but now requires more support. Arctic Wind has a similar problem but can still struggle when not supported, so it only gets a cost increase. Absolute Zero is powerful at slowdown by design, but overperforms for how little investment is currently required to handle sustained rushes.

Glue:

• x4x: Ability now sticks to MOAB-class even without 2xx (carries to x5x)
• x4x: Ability duration to MOAB-class is halved (carries to x5x)
• 💭 This will make micromanagement of Glue Strike more friendly and improve crosspath interactions at the T4.

Sniper:

• 2xx: $750 -> $600
• 3xx: $2800 -> $2400
• 4xx: $5000 -> $5500
• x3x: $2600 -> $2700
• 0x5: Bullet MOAB-class damage +4 -> +6
• 105: Bullet MOAB-class damage +5 -> +7
• 205: Bullet MOAB-class damage +6 -> +8
• xx5: $14500 -> $14000
• x5x: $14000 -> $14500
• 💭 Large Calibre is a neglected crosspath outside of Bouncing Bullet, being an expensive option that can still struggle even to spaced rushes, and the T1 and base upgrades usually doing enough to chip Bloons instead of outright one-shotting them. Elite Defender has been hurt significantly by recent Sniper reworks, so we've upped its single-target output and swapped out Elite Sniper's cost.

Sub:

• 4x0: Radioactive tick 0.4s -> 0.5s (carries into 5xx)
• 401: Radioactive tick 0.3s -> 0.4s (carries into 5xx)
• 402: Radioactive tick 0.2s -> 0.3s (carries into 5xx)
• 4xx: Base sonar decamo pierce 150 -> 100 (410: 180 -> 120, 420: 225 -> 150)
• 5xx: No longer does +10 Ceramic damage
• 50x: Base pierce 1000 -> 200 (510: 1200 -> 240, 520: 1500 -> 300)
• 💭 Reactor is currently too strong at carrying a defense, especially with Ocean Obyn whose interaction is also being nerfed. Energizer is also too good at defending without properly accounting for its crosspaths, so now extra pierce will matter more when fighting off Tight Ceramics.

Buccaneer:

• x4x: Cannonball frag damage 1 -> 2
• x5x: Cannonball is now affected by Pirate Lord speed bonus
• x5x: Cannonball explosion damage 2 -> 3
• x5x: Cannonball frag damage 1 -> 3
• 💭 Pirate Lord is useful but doesn't yet see enough creative use of keeping it on the field.

Heli:

• 2xx: $250 -> $200
• x1x: $200 -> $150
• x2x: $350 -> $300
• x4x: $7500 -> $8000
• x4x: Reposition cooldown 40s -> 30s
• xx3: $4000 -> $4200
• xx3: ZOMG base slowdown reduced 67% -> 33% (i.e. ZOMG base speed 33% -> 67%). DDTs unaffected by the nerf.
• xx5: $34700 -> $34500
• 💭 For how well the Heli Pilot can stall out rounds, the crate ability is still significantly overvalued compared to the Reposition ability. Shove is also too effective at denying a ZOMG.

Mortar:

• 000: Now gains pinpoint accuracy
• xx1: $400 -> $200
• xx1: Now gains "Patrol Points" (positioned after "Follow Touch/Mouse")
• xx2: $500 -> $700
• 💭 Dynamic Targeting was not outstanding and doesn't need to cost so much for what it does.

Dartling:

• x4x: Ability damage 5 -> 6, duration 8s -> 5s (carries to x5x)
• 💭 This rework to Rocket Storm aims to nerf the MAD ability's value with speed buffs like Overclock, Homeland, and Tower Boost, without hurting the T4 too much.

Wizard:

• 000: $300 -> $250
• xx1: $300 -> $250
• 410: Fireball damage 3 -> 8 and gains +8 MOAB-class damage (510 remains 9 and +9, per fireball)
• 420: WoF gains +1 MOAB-class damage (520 affected +1 -> +2)
• x3x: $3000 -> $2600
• x4x: Phoenix can now be selected to switch flight paths like an Ace (Circle, Figure Eight, Figure Infinite, and Reverse Flight) (carries to x5x and Lava Phoenix)
• 140: Phoenix flame lightly seeks Bloons (equal to 1xx Wizard bolt; carries to 150 crosspath)
• 240: Phoenix flame damage gains +1
• 250: Lava Phoenix flame damage gains +10
• 041: Phoenix and Lava Phoenix flame gains +50% pierce
• xx5: Necromancer damage buff to zombloons +1 -> +3
• 💭 Latest balance changes to Wizard have caused it to struggle too much early on. These early buffs will improve its early-game strength without making it too good versus other options. Additional crosspath synergies for the Wizard are given for more leverage in the mid-game. Phoenix gains flight control to improve its reliability. Lastly, the PoD buff has never felt very impactful, so we're trying a significant damage buff to see Necromancer strategies fare well past Round 30.

Super:

• x4x: $20,000 -> $25,000
• x4x: Plasma base pierce 13 -> 8 (x5x unaffected at 16)
• x4x: Plasma damage 1 -> 2 (x5x unaffected at 5)
• 💭 Tech Terror's ability shuts down a lot of late-game rushes, especially when micromanaged. Upping its cost and lowering the base pierce should make the 041 crosspath more vulnerable without reducing the DPS potential of 240.

Farm:

• 000: $950 -> $1000
• xx1: $400 -> $350
• xx2: $240 -> $150
• xx3: $2800 -> $2900
• x1x: Banana lifespan 30s -> 60s
• 013: Sellback increased by 1% for every subsequent round passed
• x1x description: "Bananas last 60 seconds before rotting instead of 15. Marketplaces sell for 1% more every round after buying this upgrade (up to 95%)."
• 💭 Farm is intentionally strong in order to break pure eco stalemates, but has always scaled extremely well throughout all stages of the game even with recent nerfs. Meanwhile, Long Life Bananas feels weak for how much of a money sink it can be, while Valuable Bananas has always been less efficient for Marketplace. Letting bananas last longer should make it more strategic against Jericho, while the "long life" function should pull in the Marketplace identity and give middle crosspath a rivalling option to the pure cash generation boost of top path.

Village:

• xx4: $7200 -> $7500
• 💭 Village users get a lot of income in addition to support, a minor nerf to slow this down.

Spactory:

• 041: Ability lifespan bonus +50% -> +100% (carries to 051)
• 05x: Main spike pile pierce 5 -> 10
• 150: Main spike pile pierce 10 -> 15
• x5x: Main spike damage 3 -> 7
• 💭 The lifespan crosspath for Spike Storm is significantly less effective, since top crosspath offers both pierce and DDT-popping, and the start-of-round speed buff doesn't affect the ability. This crosspath divide is greater at T5.

Engineer:

• x4x: Duration reduced by 15 seconds for all tower tiers (T5: 30s -> 15s, T4: 45s -> 30s, T3: 60s -> 45s, T2: 75s -> 60s, T1: 90s -> 75s, T0: 105s -> 90s)
• x5x: Normal overclock effect reworked - duration changed to 2x the amount at T4
• 5xx: Sentry plasma 0.03s -> 0.04s
• 501: Sentry pierce bonus 25% -> 50%
• 💭 Overclock is still too powerful for the required maintenance. We considered capping the bonuses for T5 targets but it would overcomplicate the balance. Instead, a substantially lower duration on T5 would mean that timing is now much more important for scaling DPS or (in the case of Farm) income. Sentry Champion's recent pierce change to bottom crosspath was not enough to favor that dedicated option, and the middle crosspath is slightly overperforming.

Gwendolin:

• Lvl17: Heat-it-up damage bonus +2 -> +1, now gives an extra +1 damage to Fire attacks
• 💭 Level 17 provides far too much immediate benefit to all towers for little interaction. Instead, she will provide a stronger Fire synergy at this level.

Obyn:

• Lvl17: Wall of Trees cooldown 90s -> 75s
• Lvl20: Wall of Trees capacity 8500 -> 9500
• 💭 Level 20 Obyn is rarely utilized because his natural leveling usually gives enough benefits for most strategies.

Ocean Obyn:

• Lvl2: Pierce bonus to nearby water towers 25% -> 20% (Lvl11 unchanged at 50%)
• Lvl3: Coral max pierce 150 -> 90
• Lvl7: Coral max pierce 300 -> 270 (Lvl16 unchanged at 1200)
• Lvl10: Now summons one Kraken onto the manual target, one Kraken on Random that favors the natural lane, and one Kraken on Random that favors the sent lane
• Lvl10: Kraken ability cooldown 90s -> 120s
• Lvl17: Kraken ability cooldown now reduces to 100s
• 💭 Synergy preference has now switched over to Sub and Ice, and while this specific synergy is strong but not too dominant, Ocean Obyn is still too powerful. Coral carries too well in early rounds on specific maps compared to Spike Factory. Krakens are getting reworked to limit annoyance with RNG and at least have some manual control over placement.

Captain Churchill:

• Lvl8: Armor Piercing Shells bonus explosion benefit increased +4 -> +6 (carries into higher levels)
• Lvl13: MOAB Barrage damage 250 -> 350
• Lvl16: MOAB Barrage ability cooldown 60s -> 45s (lvl20 unaffected at 30s)
• Lvl17: MOAB Barrage damage 250 -> 500
• Lvl20: MOAB Barrage damage 800 -> 1200
• 💭 Captain Churchill has seen solid usage but has not been spectacular past the mid-game. Improving the higher levels of his abilities should smoothen his progression into a better powerhouse.

Sentai Churchill:

• Lvl8: High Energy Shells attack cooldown reduction increased -42% -> -50% (carries into higher levels)
• Lvl13: Orbital Strike damage 90 -> 120
• Lvl16: Orbital Strike ability cooldown 60s -> 45s (lvl20 unaffected at 30s)
• Lvl17: Orbital Strike damage 90 -> 180
• Lvl20: Orbital Strike damage 300 -> 400
• 💭 Sentai has also seen solid usage but starts to fall off past the mid-game. His abilities are getting improvements throughout higher levels to keep him up as Bloon ramping increases.

Benjamin:

• $950 -> $1000
• Lvl1: end-of-round cash $75 -> $100 (Lvl2 unaffected at $125)
• Lvl3: Biohack downtime 2s -> 3s (Lvl6 reduces downtime to 2s)
• 💭 Still will be an incredibly strong Hero but will require more investment to place him early and more preparation when using Biohack in earlier rounds. Both of these changes will make him more difficult to optimize early on to snowball cash and force less eco for a similar cash generation.

DJ Benjammin:

• $900 -> $950
• Lvl3: Good Vibes downtime 2s -> 3s (Lvl6 reduces downtime to 2s)
• 💭 Like normal Ben, DJ Ben will still excel in a lot of setups but makes him more difficult to place early without forcing less eco.

Fateweaver:

• $700 -> $675
• Lvl1: Pierce increased by 1 (carries to higher levels)
• 💭 Fateweaver is getting a slight pierce buff to indirectly buff her Sharp Sting of Fate ability and a tiny cost reduction to give Fateweaver players a little more eco to perform aggressive strategies.

Ninja Kiwi did not get all balance changes correct. They hit the wrong parts of Sniper being too strong (mainly, they didn't target the Supply Drop itself) and missed much of what made Ocean Obyn too strong.

Do you reckon these balance changes any better?

Tack:

• x3x Blade: pierce 3 -> 4
• x3x Blade: $600 -> $750
• x4x Maelstrom: $3850 -> $3650
• 💭 Blade now struggles far too much against early rushes with recent pierce nerfs. Dart Monkey is designed to be the "cheap" carry, so we felt making Blade Shooter the more expensive alternative is a fairer choice.

Sniper:

• Base attack cooldown: 1.45s -> 1.35s
• x2x Sniper: $250 -> $300
• x4x Sniper: cash generation $2000 -> $1750
• x5x Sniper: cash generation $5000 -> $4500
• xx3 Sniper: $2200 -> $2100
• 023 Sniper: shrapnel pierce 3 -> 2 (carries to higher tiers)
• 3xx Sniper: Damage 20 -> 30
• 4xx Sniper: Damage 30 -> 45
• 💭 Sniper is picked more often purely because it comes with efficient cash generation, so instead of nerfing its speed we have decided to reduce its cost efficiency. Middle crosspath is also significantly more effective than the top crosspath on the bottom path. Deadly Precision is also not used often for damage, usually overshadowed as a stepping stone only.

Buccaneer:

• xx3 Merchantman: end-of-round income $350 -> $300 (xx4 unchanged at $1200)
• xx4 Favored: $5700 -> $5400
• 💭Even without Ocean Obyn, T3 Merchantman is strong enough as a mixed cash-and-defense maker, and its already high base cash gain de-values Favored Trades over multiple Merchantmen.

Monkey Ace:

• 130 Bomber: bomb pierce reduced 17 -> 10 to match 030. (031 remains 17)
• xx3 Neva-Miss: No longer gains +2 pierce
• xx4 Spectre: $20,000 -> $24,000
• 💭Neva-Miss was always meant to be the "accuracy" upgrade, and Neva-Miss carries too well without assistance from buffs or Hero abilities, so now this upgrade will only grant homing. We have fixed an inconsistency in Bomber Ace's crosspathing benefits, so now Bomber Ace will only gain pierce on the actual pierce path and not in the attack speed path. Spectre is also strong enough to be a reasonable standalone carry, so doesn't need to be that cheap.

Engineer:

• 4xx Sentry Expert: $2800 -> $3250
• 501 Sentry Champion: Sentry gains +25% pierce for plasma and explosions, similar to 401, instead of only +1 pierce on plasma
• xx4 Trap: RBE cash per natural $0.75 -> $0.5 ($750 -> $500) (carries into xx5)
• 💭Sentry Expert is too cost-effective as a reactive response to a rush, so a price increase feels like a reasonable choice. Meanwhile, Sentry Champion doesn't scale pierce from bottom crosspath as well as the T4, so this is being changed. Trap income has no easy answer on separated lane maps, so simply lowering the cash gains should still make it solid when used properly but not snowball too quickly.

Ocean Obyn:

• Lvl2: Pierce buff no longer affects Grape Shot until Level 9
• Lvl9: Improves pierce buff of non-grape attacks from +1 to +2
• 💭Ocean Obyn's pierce buff scales too well on Grape Shot early on, so instead of outright removing this interaction, Ocean Obyn will need a higher level to let that pierce interaction take into effect. Losing Magic interaction has also made Ocean Obyn less of a stand-out pick besides that pierce interaction.

Overall, these should nerf Ace-Farm-Engineer as a whole, nerf Ocean Obyn Grape interaction fairly without overnerfing Buccaneer as a whole (while also nerfing basic Merchantman, as it never needed the bigger cash gain), and nerf Tack and Sniper to target the actually overpowered aspects instead of targeting random areas hoping to hit the right balancing point.