Bloons TD6 Odyssey "Cylindrical Thinking" with Etienne, effective CHIMPs, no Subs/Alchs

Channel:

Master Knight DH

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Published on October 4, 2020 2:52:41 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7xp7wpgztg

Game:

Bloons TD 6 (2018)

Duration: 1:58:01

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1

Successful runs:
Winter Park - 0:45
Lotus Island - 20:57
Candy Falls - 58:09
Downstream - 1:16:24
Karts 'n' Darts - 1:39:14

It goes to show how Etienne plays so differently from other Heroes in general, since he wants his towers to focus on Lead busting rather than getting Camo upgrades. Ironically, the only map where I had no towers other than Etienne getting Camo levels of their own (innate Camo counted) was Winter Park. I got the Ultra Juggernaut early in hopes of having things be interesting and, well, they were interesting, but in a Crowning Moment Of Funny manner rather than in ANY attempt at a challenge, as I watched Ultra Juggernaut mince Rounds like 49 in all the catharsis that provided after that mess had already been so asinine toward Adora.

Lotus Island was easy. Guided Flamebreath and DPS Spectre curbed practically everything ever. I actually got the Spectre on Round 52. Oh, and for those wondering what I was doing, I was talking on the BTD6 balancing Discord with some people and making a point to them about how to use Spectre well because they were complaining about Spectre chase-missing Reds of all things. I told them: if non-Spectre Ace with its shot spread and low shot velocity can be maneuvered to fight against spaced bloons decently by having its flight path move it close enough to its target consistently and marginalizing both drawbacks, there's no reason Spectre can't. And for those wondering, I still think Etienne's shot velocity being so low is still heinous for what he involves.

Candy Falls had the primary failed attempt actually stem from being practice for Downstream, which I ended up needing only one attempt for, but it does highlight the big point about Etienne's weakness against Leads. The whole thing comes down to planning, but that planning ends up being pretty much most of the battle, and once you get past that, things are guaranteed to go down like clockwork. It is interesting, though, to have to recognize what should be the primary Lead buster. As an example, Juggernaut would be more reliable than White Hot Spikes/Spiked Balls for Rounds 37 and 38, but it's locked out by Triple Darts, which I would rather have to handle Round 4 on Downstream. It does punctuate the Lead busting from Camo towers tends to be a case of weighing strengths VS weaknesses.

That does bring me to the Mage, because on Karts 'n' Darts, I do need him out sooner to have him blow up Leads, though of course I do still need my Ninja--and yes, I'm using a Ninja with Etienne, I'd have to--to get the bloons under control. But ultimately, the developers' arguments on why Etienne would be OP do show, and I can just as easily point out that extra Pierce isn't so helpful against DDTs from their being innately spaced. Mind you, I'm for some buffs to punctuate his niche in early game, if only to have him be more viable in random Co-Op, but just fixing the shot velocity and Etienne's range growth would suffice. Rohan Spibo has also stated an idea to indirectly buff Etienne that's actually creative. Let's just say the one map where it kind of could have happened here had involved the buff idea's purpose being redundancy. (Don't worry, he has stated the idea in the past on a publicly available Discord.)

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