Sword Monkey (Re-Invented)

''This article is for the second, re-invented version of the Sword Monkey. You can see the original Sword Monkey here.''

The Sword Monkey is a monkey who attacks with a sword. He/she uses the sword to slash bloons (which affects a whole arc of around 60 degrees), a slash damages every bloon it touches and pop 1 layer out of them. He/she attacks pretty slowly. (Around the speed of a Bomb Tower )

Price: 600$ (all prices are on Medium)

Sword arc:

Introducing TrueBranch
The Sword Monkey will use a new upgrade system, called TrueBranch, instead of the original upgrade system from BTD 5. In TrueBranch, at the start you have 2 upgrades you can buy, and after you buy both of them, you'll have to choose one of two paths and you can ONLY buy the upgrades from that path. Each path in turn has 3 upgrades, so the total number of upgrades remain at 8 but you can only have a maximum of 5 upgrades at once instead of 6. However, the upgrades will be more specialized, and in most cases be a bit stronger than your average upgrade.

Battler Certificate
The swordsmen who have graduated with high honors from the barrack are way stronger than your normal footmen, and thus they can slash twice as fast and have an arc of 90 degrees! Plus, they also have a 15% chance to use their swords to block small bullets that deal 5 HP damage or less! (Of course it's ineffective with explosive and piercing projectiles, however)

Price: 750$

Sword arc:

Longsword
The longsword is, well,... longer than the normal soldier's sword, plus its strong power can pop through 2 layers at once!

Price: 800$

Sword arc (if Battler Certificate is not bought):

After you've bought both of those upgrades, you'll be prompted to choose one of the two Sword Monkey's paths, Royal Knight or Dark Knight.

Knight Certificate
A real noble knight gets everything: A broadsword, a horse, and [s]swag[/s] charisma to cheer the surrounding citizens and troops up. The broadsword is just like the longsword, but it's a heavier hitter so it can deal 10 HP to armored bloon, as well as ignoring 1 AD (since the sword's impact with the armor also creates a shockwave that can damage what's inside a bit).

As for the horse, you can choose to mount it or not using a button in the tower's HUD that reads "Mount Horse" or "Unmount Horse". When mounted on the horse, you can change the position of the Knight whenever you want, but the horse also needs time to run, and when changing position the Knight can't attack effectively, reducing his attack speed by half. Also, when mounted, the knight will always have his arc degree reduced to 60, but his range is also increased to 120px (since he's swinging on a higher place and can reach his arms further.

The distance the horse can move each second:

Sword arc when mounted:

As for the swag, being a Knight if you are in anyone's eye (any living monkeys' range), that monkey will have his/her fire rate increase by 20%.

Price: 1800$

Energy Sword
Slashes now also compress energy to create a "Sword Beam". A sword beam can only pop 1 layer but can fly pretty far (a whopping 400px), plus it takes an arc the same size as the sword arc (meaning it gets bigger as it goes), PLUS it can pop Lead and Frozen bloons! Moreover, it can also deflect any bullet that deals 8 HP damage or less! Also WORKS with explosive projectiles! (The "Sword Beam" is "added" to the slash, not replacing the slash itself, don't worry)

Price: 4500$

Sword Beam's effective arc (unmounted):

...(derpy template...)

Mirage Excalibur
The legendary sword is now in your hands! The Mirage Excalibur's sword beam can pop 2 layers instead of one and has infinite range, plus the sword itself can pop 3 layers and deal 20 HP damage to everything it slashes! Plus, the legendary knight who can extract its full power can also get TWO mini-abilities!

Special Ability: Blade of the Sky: Choose a spot on the map. Then, the knight will somehow jump to the sky and thrusts his/her sword down that spot, dealing a whopping 700 HP to whatever it directly hits (only applies to 1 target though). Plus, the area around that area will also be scorched from the energy, burning every bloon that enters that area. The fire will go off by itself after 15 seconds.

Cooldown Time: 30 seconds.

Special Ability: Sheath of Avalon: COMPLETELY block any projectile coming towards her, INCLUDING piercing and explosive projectiles, thereby also NEGATING their piercing/explosive properties for 5 seconds. Afterwards, her next Sword Beam will have the power to take 2+(total amount of HP she'd have lost if she didn't block anything/5) HP/layer!

Cooldown Time: 20 seconds.

Price: 16000$

Rogue
The Rogue uses 2 cutlasses instead of a longsword. The cutlasses only deal one layer damage and has the range of a normal sword, but now he/she can slash FOUR times faster (since he/she's using 2 cutlasses at once and each cutlass is way more versatile than a normal sword). Plus, he/she is now also stealth, meaning no normal enemy will actively aim at him/her, but he/she can still be hit by stray bullets and explosive/piercing projectiles, and he/she can now also slash camo bloons. His/her block rate has also been doubled to 30% (since he/she's using 2 swords)

Price: 1500$

Dark Knight
The Dark Knight's cutlasses are cursed. As in, after a bloon has been slashed by it, it'll continue to lose 1 HP each second for 5 seconds, and it also STACKS with each hit! Moreover, the Dark Knight can also sacrifice his comrades to power his cursed blades up! With this upgrade, the "Sacrifice" attack mode is unlocked. If you switch this mode on, every living creature (living special agents also count) in his range will get its HP decreased by 1 for each 3 seconds, but the Dark Knight's cutlasses will also pop 1 more HP/layer for each tower that's been affected, and their curses are also powered up by the same manner, too!

Price: 6500$

Phantobane
The legendary cursed dual swords called the Phantobanes are now in this dark knight's hands. These swords are not as easy to use as the cutlasses from before, so the swing rate is reduced to half (like a normal sword), but it can now pop 3 layers at once and can also pop Frozen and Lead bloons! Moreover, the Sacrifice mode now adds 2 HP/layer to the swords and their curses' power for each affected tower instead of just 1! MOREOVER, the Phantobane can also summon demonic knights from the afterworld...

Special Ability: Vengeance: Summons skeletal knights from the tip of one of his/her swords, who fly around the map randomly seeking for bloons at the speed of 200 px per second. A skeletal knight's power is just like a Dark Knight's. The number of skeletal knights that can be summoned is 4 plus the total number of living monkeys (special agents don't count) that have died in the last 6 rounds. The skeletal knights will be present for 10 seconds before disappearing.

Cooldown: 40 seconds.

The distance the skeletal knights can move each second:

Price: 14444$

Trivia

 * In my fanfic Eternal Wars, there's a RK-2 (Royal Knight Path, upgrade 2) Sword Monkey called Nodachi Kenshi, a RK-3 Sword Monkey called Gyoukoshidou Atsurya, and a DK-3 Sword Monkey called Daima Icchou.
 * Atsurya herself, and by extension the Mirage Excalibur upgrade, is a reference to Saber from the Fate series.
 * In a way, this is my first truly gender-neutral class, since both male and female Sword Monkeys can be seen in my fanfic, and I had to use his/her when referring to a general Sword Monkey.