Tier 3 upgrade

Crossbow

Crossbow gives the Dart Monkey 60 range, 3-damage bolts and camo detection. Best crosspaths, early camo use, limits against lead, and its cost.

Uses a long range Crossbow that can pop 3 layers of Bloon for every hit.

In-game description

Stats

Main attack

Damage: 3
Pierce: 4
Attack speed: 0.95s
Range: 60

Can't pop Lead, Frozen
Hits camo

How to use Crossbow

Crossbow swaps darts for bolts. Range jumps from 48 to 60 (63 with the Crossbow Reach Monkey Knowledge), each bolt deals 3 damage instead of 1, pierce rises to 4 and the bolts fly faster. It keeps the camo detection from Enhanced Eyesight and gains the Camo Prioritization targeting option. The bolts are still sharp, so it cannot pop lead or frozen bloons.

When to buy it

Crossbow's main job is early camo defense. On easier maps it can handle every camo that shows up before round 40 by itself. On maps without long straights it misses more often, so set it to Strong or Last to break the toughest bloons into smaller pieces.

0-2-3 raises attack speed to one bolt about every 0.64 seconds, better for single targets and ceramics.
2-0-3 raises pierce to 12, better for clearing dense groups down a straight line.
1-0-3 is a cheap middle ground with 7 pierce.

Is it worth it?

Yes, for an affordable early camo solution that also deals real damage. Its pierce is low without crosspaths, so do not expect it to hold dense rounds alone. It also leads into Sharp Shooter, a strong mid-game tower.