BTD5 Floods

Ace 0/0 ($900): 437
The big draw to this. What makes Ace so good in a flood is that its accuracy failure is no longer a problem, while it's still firing 8 shots at a time with clearly more than one Popping Power per shot. Of course, you don't want to use it against durabloons (Regens, Ceramics, and MOABs) unless you go with dedicated left path upgrades. Its Lead protection is bad as well, so if Ace were to have toned up general attack rates, I wouldn't exactly complain, though it wouldn't need anything immense.

Super Monkey 0/0 ($3500): 175
That's what brings up this comparison. Even though the Super Monkey isn't meant to be cost-effective, you'd think he'd come CLOSE to the Ace's numbers if it's the Ace being garbage. And I don't showcase 1/0 SM because that just costs twice as much. SM's 3rd right path upgrade cost $9000 for the upgrade alone as well.

Dart Monkey 0/3 ($840) (2/3 is $1050 but provides stuff irrelevant on this video): 148
Obligatory Dart Monkey showcase. This guy doesn't have any non-cost weaknesses compared to earlier upgrade Dart Monkeys. Unlike a certain other tower.

Dart Monkey 3/2 ($1220): 168
Showcasing how God awful the Spike-O-Pult is to the point where it desperately needs a buff.

Tack Shooter 3/2 ($1695): 205
Ring of Fire is actually a self-explanatory Melee Tornado at the drawback of costing more than a Super Monkey even without right side upgrades and it can't even hit Camo. This thing, though, is infinitely less effective.

Tack Shooter 2/3 ($1875): 274
I actually have this upgraded to the Blade Maelstrom (resulting in a total price tag of $4575) but that's to prove to the naysayers that I'm not cheating. I think Blade Maelstrom would rip this whole thing apart.

Sniper 2/3 ($7100): 120
I need a good laugh. Humor me, Sniper. (By the way, Sniper 1/3 for $5900 would result in 96. That's even worse.)

Ninja 3/2 ($2600): 184
Bloonjitsu Master actually does break 400 but costs over $2500 to add.

Ninja 2/3 ($4500): 446
I'd be up for Flash Bombs' price tag being decreased and Bloonjitsu Master's price tag increased slightly but still significant enough.

Cannon 2/2 ($1950): 390
Cannon does hit 441 before more than 1 Pink reaches the exit, but that's kind of cheating. Besides, this thing still costs twice as much as the 0/0 Ace, though at least it hits Leads. By the way, Cluster Bombs cheeses floods even without right side upgrades. Yeah, what. That thing exceeds $1500 though.

Ice 2/0 ($925): 982
Well, hey, the slowest attack rate tower needs something going on. Still, this thing tends to be more powerful than it should be in general, if not by an unmanageable amount.

Glue 2/2 ($3090): 124 (hit 61 Pinks = 305)
Look at this tower type. It competes with the Ice Tower. For God's sake, both have the same level/path upgrade needed to deal any independent damage, and neither can directly hit MOABs or Camos, at least without the Village for the latter. This becomes a problem when Glue needs $2320 to hit groups AT ALL and it's on the path alternate to the independent damage upgrade. Both of the L4 upgrades suck as well. Somebody shoot me.

Note: I didn't think to add Glue 4/2 because I didn't think about the shot speed problems and waste of funds it become against Pinks, but it's just as well, because of how GD expensive it is.

Mage 2/1 ($2350): 432
Oh hey. A neat flood control tower. Not the best, but he puts up a good fight. 2/2 Mage actually costs $2650, but sue me, the x/2 upgrade only provides Camo protection, and some of the competition is doing considerably worse either way.

Dartling 2/1 ($3000): 272
Could be better, could be worse. That price tag really stings, that's for sure, but at least he does better than Sir Super Monkey. Again, 2/2 Dartling actually costs $4000, except that's including the ever situational Depleted Bloontonium which is asking to be buffed to hit an additional 2 Bloons to make that Lead hitting flow. (It wouldn't need to attack 2 layers, since it can already harass durabloons.)

Spactory 3/2 ($6800): 224
Fun fact: those spiked balls have 16 Popping Power against anything that doesn't involve Ceramics.

Mortar 2/1 ($1800): 280
Now this is where things get complicated. I am showcasing this upgrade level first to show just how drastic the other two upgrades that get involved are in a flood. Naturally, it doesn't break 400, but look at the upgrade numbers for the other two.

Mortar 3/0 ($2350): 399
A second or so short of getting 479, and the Popping Power limit of 40 wasn't hit at one point because of lag, so it gets the benefit of the doubt, since Faster Reload isn't used. This underused upgrade is surprisingly decent, since it competes with the 2/1 Mage, even costing the same in total. Bloon Buster still has only 40 Popping Power (though don't call that a significant weakness; it's harder than it should be to get in more than 40 bloons in a cluster on Battles), but the damage ends up doubled. Now do be wary about Leads, because Pinks will come out instead of Blacks if hit by this thing, which got a friend killed before.

Now Bloon Buster is costing above $1500, but it's not as self-explanatory as Cluster Bombs or Corrosive Glue Hose. Plus I need to bring it up just because of one upgrade that I surprisingly need to rant about.

Mortar 0/2 ($1500): 767 (hit 280 Pinks = 1120)
This is part of the reason why Signal Flare needs to be nerfed. Well, this and natural Rapid Reload. It's not the entire reason since Signal Flare is Signal Flare, but Burny Stuff has a significant part, and this demonstrates it.

The big issue is that thanks to the burning effect, 4 layers are effectively popped per bloon. That's a feature meant for a dedicated path upgrade, in a much less powerful value at that, AND that upgrade costs more. Even against Blacks and Zebras, that's still 3 layers. Seriously, look at how high that number is for the cost. And this is for a FLOOD. Mortar is meant for CLUSTERS. And don't say Mortar has only 40 Popping Power, because it will still never hit that cap in relevant situations.

There is at least a blind spot: lone durabloons such as Ceramics are already burning once hit and thus future attacks on them deal only 1 layer of damage per attack. That's if they're not MOABs, which are outright immune to the burning, so there's no difference between a 3/1 and 3/2 to them. However, the cost of Burny Stuff is low enough to get defenses going for the relevant stuff.

A massive price increase would be overnerfing this God forsaken thing, but a decent one would nerf both this and Signal Flare, which naturally gets this anyway.