Flamethrower Monkey (CrookedHorn)

"'Before the Soul Fracture, the Primal Army used to be the most feared military in the world. The Flamethrower Division was scarcely known for mercy. Their very presence and presentation haunts the minds of many of the Kingdom's old opponents.'"

The Flamethrower Monkey is a tower added in Bloons TD 7: Dark Times. It can be unlocked any time after Rank 8, and is considered a 'Military' tower.

Base Level

 * HP: 10 (+5 per tier)
 * Cost: $650 on Medium
 * Attack Type: The Flamethrower Monkey fires a powerful jet of flame forth every few seconds. This jet hangs is blasted for a whole 1.5 seconds, having high pierce and quickly melting layers of bloon in it's heat. The jet is made of a constant stream of embers, of which are fifteen are fired over the course of the attack, one every 0.1 seconds. Each ember has 2 pierce and pops 1 layer of bloon. This attack melts Leads by default, is ineffective against Purple Bloons, and cannot be used to break a Force Bloon's shield.
 * Attack Speed: 2.5 seconds
 * Range: 0/0/0 Dart Monkey

Due to the nature of its straight and streamlined flame attack, the Flamethrower Monkey is best placed at the end of straight line lanes and preferably set to Last in such a case, much like one would set a Juggernaut or Spike-o-Pult. For the power it presents, the Flamethrower Monkey is very cost effective early, but has a very glaring weakness to fast bloons and at base level Camo Bloons. Due to its slow fire rate (despite the extended damage period), Regrow Bloons it cant outright pop completely will prove a massive detriment.

The Flamethrower Monkey takes the appearance of a monkey in a thick black fire retardant suit from the torso down. Their shoulders have twin iron spikes on each side, and they wear large red fire resistant gloves, boots, and shoulder adornments. On their back is a large metallic canister with an orange flame insignia on it and a hatch on top, held by dark brown leather straps over the shoulders and under the arms. A tube extends from the side of the canister into a flamethrower looking weapon in their hands. On their heads are large iron masks with a single slit to view through. A black hood of rubbery material covers the rest of the head.

Arcing Flame
"The jet of flame now arcs through the air, landing with a fiery wave!" -Description

The Flamethrower Monkey now aims the attack slightly skyward, so that when it reaches the edge of its range, the embers will be shot out a bit further in a random direction, simulating a sort of spread on impact with the ground. When they reach the end of their range and fly off, their pierce is restored if it lost any to get there.

The canister on the Flamethrower Monkey's back becomes black metal, and the orange flame symbol is painted on slightly brighter.

Costs $750 on Medium

Wave of Fire
"Magic and machinery work together to create a consistent wave of arcane fire." -Description

Every time an ember hits the ground, instead of flinging off in a random direction, a small ring of heat will shoot out to the range of a 0/0/0 Ice Monkey, popping 1 layer off of all nearby bloons. Not as devastating as it sounds, since not every ember has the pierce to reach the end of the arc.

The canister's hatch becomes yellow, as a yellow stripe runs around the center. Four orange flame insignia are now evenly spaced around the upper half of the canister.

Spreading Embers
"Some additional and accidental sparks may fire off and catch extra bloons." -Description

Over the course of the attack period of 1.5 seconds, every 0.3 seconds an additional single ember will be sent 10 degrees to the left or right of the main stream. This allows some extra variability in where to place it, making it more effective in non-linear crowd control.

The flamethrower's nozzle becomes larger and wider, as well as becomes a red color.

Costs $300 on Medium.

Violent Flames
"A more experimental chemical results in far more effective, but harder to predict, outcomes..." -Description

The embers of the jet of flame now travel 25% further, without changing the effective range of the Flamethrower Monkey. The embers also each get +1 pierce, up to 3.

The flamethrower becomes made of black metal.

Costs $700 on Medium.

Flare Bombs
"Experimenting with incendiary explosives, the Flamethrower Monkey now sets a trap up in advance for the heat of battle." -Description

Every five attacks, the Flamethrower Monkey will throw out three gray landmine-like explosives onto the track in random places within its range. Up to 6 of these can stack at once if some go unused. When a bloon triggers a mine, it will burst in a powerful skyward blast, pushing bloons back a fair distance and dealing 2 damage to up to 10 targets. This allows the Flamethrower Monkey to keep bloons in range, and have damage prepared in advance. Camo bloons can trigger mines and all camo bloons struck by them will be revealed.

The Flamethrower Monkey puts on some protective equipment, and the iron slit for the eyes on the mask becomes a plastic goggle-like screen. A golden yellow belt now wraps around the waist of the Flamethrower Monkey, lined in gray mines with red buttons.

Costs $1400 on Medium.

Chain Reaction
"Mines can react with one another to create devastating fields of destruction!" -Description

The Flamethrower Monkey can now throw mines anywhere on the path prior to where the end of its range is. The Flamethrower gains a new priority setting bar underneath the main one that can be switched between 'Trigger' and 'Chain Reaction'. While under Trigger, mines will behave as normal, and their power has been increased to deal 4 damage and set bloons on fire for 3 seconds, popping 1 layer every second. The number of mines able to be thrown out at once is now GREATLY increased to 18. The knockback effect is also slightly improved. When set to Chain Reaction, only the final mine will trigger when floated over, causing all mines to explode backward along the track from its position to the first one. This upgrade path sacrifices much of the raw damage power of the Flamethrower Monkey at all times for few select moments where it can absolutely devastate the field.

Design

Costs $5600 on Medium

Remote Detonation
"Able to be triggered at any time, exceptionally powerful atomic mines rock and shock the battleground!" -Description

The Flamethrower now throws out three bombs every three attacks, and the maximum number of mines that can be placed at once increases to 36. When a flare bomb goes off, it deals 10 damage to all bloons with an additional 3 over 3 seconds. These mines, since they blast skyward, will also deal 40x damage to MOAB-class bloons and set them alight, dealing an additional 120 damage over 3 seconds. The knockback effect improves further against surviving bloons, but outright stuns MOAB-class bloons for 2 seconds. Due to these massive upgrades and the power of the ability for its late game effectiveness, the cost is rather high.

Unlocks the Remote Detonation ability, which when used will cause request the player tap a location on the track. Then, the Flamethrower will throw a single super mine at that location, dealing 5x the normal damage to all bloons and blimps in the range of a Biggest One blast with infinite pierce (this totals a x200 for MOAB-class bloons due to the normal x40). Alongside the detonation of this super mine, all currently active mines to automatically trigger at once. Has a 60 second cooldown.

Design

Costs $60,000 on Medium.

Liquid Fire
"An added blast of flammable fuel makes bloons burn over time!" -Description

In between flame bursts, the Flamethrower Monkey will aim a constant stream of beige partially transparent liquid at bloons. This 'stream' is a single target projectile fired at a bloon once every 0.2 seconds. This does no damage, but douses the bloons in a particularly flammable gasoline substance. The Flamethrower Monkey actively targets undoused bloons with this effect, but reverts to its preset target preference for the actual flame attack. Bloons doused in gasoline will burn for an additional 3 seconds after leaving the flame jet if still alive, losing 1 layer a second.

The flamethrower will gain a second smaller nozzle on top of the main flame spewing one, with a smaller thinner tube leading to a spherical sub-compartment attached to the side of the canister.

Costs $1000 on Medium.

Sticky Solution
"Mixed with a heavy glue-like solution, doused bloons will remain alight for even longer, and be slowed down until struck with the flame." -Description

While doused, bloons will move at 80% of their normal speed. Once lit on fire by any flame attack, not just exclusive to the Flamethrower Monkey, their burning will last 5 seconds instead of 3.

The black undersuit of the Flamethrower Monkey will gain a single red stripe around the hood encompassing the rest of the head. The iron mask will get square-like divots near the edges.

Costs $1300 on Medium.

Flaming Streak
"Bloons set on fire will go on a burning run, setting bloons they pass on fire for a brief period." -Description

Bloons set on fire after being doused in gasoline have a 20% chance of having their speed increase by 10% for 3 seconds, burning a huge flame while setting every bloon they pass on fire for 3 seconds. These bloons, if doused but not already alight, will trigger Flaming Streaks of their own. Can build up quickly with the right conditions. Freezing the bloon will automatically terminate this effect.

The metal mask on the Flamethrower Monkey will gain 3 long horizontal slits along the bottom stacked above one another. The metal divots will turn golden and the mask will become a darker metal.

Costs $3500 on Medium.

Roaring Flames
"Once their duty has been served, flaming bloons will burst in a powerful combustion!" -Description

After the speed boost ends and it no longer spreads its flames, bloons affected will take an additional 3 damage and release a small explosion that stuns a very small area of bloons around it for 1 second and pops 1 layer. This explosion does NOT set bloons on fire. The bloon that triggered the explosion, if still alive, will also be stunned.

The undersuit of the Flamethrower Monkey becomes a red color. Its flame retardant jacket's red adornments will become golden and so will its gloves and boots.

Costs $6400 on Medium.

Scorched Earth
"Whatever is left of bloons sent running is scattered across the track, scalding all those who pass through it." -Description

As bloons set alight by Flaming Streak run, they will leave flame-like embers on the track that act almost like road spikes, taking up to 10 bloons of damage before vanishing. A bloon, no matter its speed, will create 1 lingering flame every 0.3 seconds, creating 10 over the course of its lifetime. These flames will dissipate after 3 seconds. This effectively creates a temporary 100 damage wall. Bloons that burst in a fiery explosion due to Roaring Flames will leave a Wall of Fire like flame on the track that burns for 4 seconds, popping 5 layers a second for up to 100 bloons at once, giving it an enormous popping power. The sheer amount of bloons set on fire, flaming and exploding, and sending lingering flames down the track results in a high cost. Very effective against bloons but hard to justify against MOAB-class targets.

The eye and mouth slits of the metallic mask turn a flaring bright orange, smoke wisps rising from them. The mask itself seems to emanate a soft red glow as if burning to the touch. The undersuit becomes golden to match the gloves, boots, and various other adornments.

Costs $42000 on Medium