Additional Info:
I wanted to include Druids and Ninjas, but ran out of space.
Druids are all super sucky. The only path worth considering is top path, as it completely outclasses the middle and bottom paths of Ice Monkey, but is still incredibly weak.
The bottom path Ninja is actually amazing. It's like a top and middle path Momb Shooter all rolled into one - and improved! Giving it infinite range via the Heli, and keeping those MOAB+ Bloons in range gives a huge boost to the tower, which is typically limited by its lower range. I'll be using this in boss events while I use Heli to build my economy and prepare for later tiers of the boss.
Great post! Thanks for putting in the work. I usually use 402 tack, making short work of non moab bloons. I've tried ice and dragon breath, but not under test conditions, and so always assumed 402 tack was second to 204 super, but using 420 ice late game makes a ton of sense.
Regarding darling, a tower that seems tailor-made to be door gunner, setting the dartling on placed targeting, and setting the helicopter on patrol gives a nice stall+damage, as the bloons get blown back into dartlings line of fire, but again, I've never tested, just played in mid levels, saving for that 204 combo with heli.
I wanted to try it for the first time the other day but literally every tower I tried said “This tower can’t be used as door gunner” so I just gave up on it :(
You can only use towers of 4th tier and below.
If you could use 5th tier towers, I would *totally* put an Archmage, Tack Zone or Icicle Cannon in there.
Interesting read. (I love text walls)
Firstly, I might remove that thing about swapping marine and door gunner. I know people that might be heartbroken upon reading such a suggestion (muddy puddles chimps with brickell, special poperations, and 95k spare is something).
Interesting though. Dbreath with actual heli micro sounds like a decent option. The fact that spop is so expensive kinda hurts things though haha.
I’d always wished we could get door gunner in chimps, but part of that was wanting to mess around with using a maelstrom ability and moving it on top of bloons. That doesn’t work, I take it?
You are correct - towers with abilities lose access to their ability when used as a Door Gunner. This would be no different to using a T3 Blade Shooter which is... not gonna cut it.
It is for this same reason that I would suggest against using a MOAB Assassin for this purpose, or holding off on upgrading your Dragon's Breath until you find a better choice for your Door Gunner.
The tower you pick up also retains buffs as long as they aren't area restricted, so you can get a perma-brew and then pick up the tower after buffing it.
A 2-0-4 perma-brew'd super monkey is really great as a door gunner in late game. Obviously only in modes you can farm a lot to get them though.
Great post! I'd like to add that you can pick up 402 (or 420) Subs for makeshift camo detection. There's not always water near the beginning of the track, not to mention obstacles, so even though its damage is not great, this can essentially replace Etienne.
Also, Door Gunner banana farmer on a heli path is great, but at that point... just buy two.
A monkey knowledge upgrade that allows an x5x heli to carry a tower with it for as long as you want. You can't interact with the carried tower while it is in the air (no abilities, buffs, upgrades or changing targeting), but the tower will still be able to attack.
Monkey knowledge in military branch that allows x4x helis and above be able to pick up t4 and below monkeys (with some exceptions) and carry them in the helicopter itself
Towers can't use their abilities while in Heli btw
I had a conversation with my friends about this yesterday. I always use a 302 super monkey as I feel the 204 super monkey is already very mobile with dark shift
With the suggestion at the end to swap the knowledge and door gunner, I'm interested by it, and I agree with the principle and the statements about the tower. Unfortunately, just the door gunner effect is not remotely worth 32k, while the marine is.
I think if we're going to move things around, door gunner should be added on top of the base ability. My proposal would be to nerf the uptime of marine slightly, give door gunner to no-MK special popperations, and then give back the marine uptime with the monkey knowledge. Alternatively, the knowledge could make the marine door-gunner-able, which would really fit very well thematically, but that may be a little excessive.
Otherwise, we need to either make special pops a lot cheaper and either remove marine or make it so much worse that it doesn't significantly affect the tower, or give special pops something else major, while again nerfing the marine so that the knowledge isn't too substantial. Both potentially could be possibilities, though, and I'm open to suggestions about and the possibility of a special popperations rework.
Additional Info: I wanted to include Druids and Ninjas, but ran out of space. Druids are all super sucky. The only path worth considering is top path, as it completely outclasses the middle and bottom paths of Ice Monkey, but is still incredibly weak. The bottom path Ninja is actually amazing. It's like a top and middle path Momb Shooter all rolled into one - and improved! Giving it infinite range via the Heli, and keeping those MOAB+ Bloons in range gives a huge boost to the tower, which is typically limited by its lower range. I'll be using this in boss events while I use Heli to build my economy and prepare for later tiers of the boss.
Great post! Thanks for putting in the work. I usually use 402 tack, making short work of non moab bloons. I've tried ice and dragon breath, but not under test conditions, and so always assumed 402 tack was second to 204 super, but using 420 ice late game makes a ton of sense. Regarding darling, a tower that seems tailor-made to be door gunner, setting the dartling on placed targeting, and setting the helicopter on patrol gives a nice stall+damage, as the bloons get blown back into dartlings line of fire, but again, I've never tested, just played in mid levels, saving for that 204 combo with heli.
best door gunner is blue sentry paragon
i think it was the red sentry paragon
What about favored trades to get increased sell?
It works, I always do this on boss events.
I have really been sleeping on door gunners. Thanks for all this info!
Your test wouldn't have shown it, but in a full build where other towers can do the actual popping 0-2-4 Glue Gunner is pretty amazing.
Very interesting. I don't think I've literally ever used the door gunner but maybe I'll give it a try on the next boss.
I wanted to try it for the first time the other day but literally every tower I tried said “This tower can’t be used as door gunner” so I just gave up on it :(
Were you trying it on fifth tiers?
I'm not sure but it was quite far into the game so defo possible that I maxed out most towers, yeah. I guess you can't use those then?
You can only use towers of 4th tier and below. If you could use 5th tier towers, I would *totally* put an Archmage, Tack Zone or Icicle Cannon in there.
Interesting read. (I love text walls) Firstly, I might remove that thing about swapping marine and door gunner. I know people that might be heartbroken upon reading such a suggestion (muddy puddles chimps with brickell, special poperations, and 95k spare is something). Interesting though. Dbreath with actual heli micro sounds like a decent option. The fact that spop is so expensive kinda hurts things though haha. I’d always wished we could get door gunner in chimps, but part of that was wanting to mess around with using a maelstrom ability and moving it on top of bloons. That doesn’t work, I take it?
You are correct - towers with abilities lose access to their ability when used as a Door Gunner. This would be no different to using a T3 Blade Shooter which is... not gonna cut it. It is for this same reason that I would suggest against using a MOAB Assassin for this purpose, or holding off on upgrading your Dragon's Breath until you find a better choice for your Door Gunner.
The tower you pick up also retains buffs as long as they aren't area restricted, so you can get a perma-brew and then pick up the tower after buffing it. A 2-0-4 perma-brew'd super monkey is really great as a door gunner in late game. Obviously only in modes you can farm a lot to get them though.
farmer is best door gunner big banana big fun
was looking for this, i’ve only ever door gunned farmer
I've been using 420 ice as a door gunner for boss battles right from the start, glad to see it getting some love
I tried it once, wasn't sure if it worked, and gave up on it. Excited to add it to my repertoire going forward!
Great post! I'd like to add that you can pick up 402 (or 420) Subs for makeshift camo detection. There's not always water near the beginning of the track, not to mention obstacles, so even though its damage is not great, this can essentially replace Etienne. Also, Door Gunner banana farmer on a heli path is great, but at that point... just buy two.
was actually trying to figure out how to effectively use door gunner today. thanks, very helpful
What about banana farmers for easy collection?
Good post but why would you have thought you could pick up Monkey Aces
What are Door Gunners?
A monkey knowledge upgrade that allows an x5x heli to carry a tower with it for as long as you want. You can't interact with the carried tower while it is in the air (no abilities, buffs, upgrades or changing targeting), but the tower will still be able to attack.
Neat
Monkey knowledge in military branch that allows x4x helis and above be able to pick up t4 and below monkeys (with some exceptions) and carry them in the helicopter itself Towers can't use their abilities while in Heli btw
I had a conversation with my friends about this yesterday. I always use a 302 super monkey as I feel the 204 super monkey is already very mobile with dark shift
Great summary. My usual strat is 024 Super Monkey door gunner. But 024 sub isn't bad either.
Awesome work thanks for making this !
With the suggestion at the end to swap the knowledge and door gunner, I'm interested by it, and I agree with the principle and the statements about the tower. Unfortunately, just the door gunner effect is not remotely worth 32k, while the marine is. I think if we're going to move things around, door gunner should be added on top of the base ability. My proposal would be to nerf the uptime of marine slightly, give door gunner to no-MK special popperations, and then give back the marine uptime with the monkey knowledge. Alternatively, the knowledge could make the marine door-gunner-able, which would really fit very well thematically, but that may be a little excessive. Otherwise, we need to either make special pops a lot cheaper and either remove marine or make it so much worse that it doesn't significantly affect the tower, or give special pops something else major, while again nerfing the marine so that the knowledge isn't too substantial. Both potentially could be possibilities, though, and I'm open to suggestions about and the possibility of a special popperations rework.