# Helicopter > The Helicopter in Blockade Brigade: 200 gold, an attack helicopter that hits ground and air. Guns, rockets, damage focus, levels, research and FAQ. - Page: https://blockadebrigade.com/towers/helicopter - Site: Blockade Brigade, a tower defense game for Windows PC (https://blockadebrigade.com/) - Last updated: 2026-10-23 - Text generated: 2026-11-02 07:35 UTC [Basic Tower](https://blockadebrigade.com/towers/basic) ## Helicopter Attack helicopter: chin gun, then rocket pods, then both 200 gold, Ground + Air, Research 18000 The Helicopter is a helipad with an attack helicopter on it. When a wave starts the helicopter lifts off, flies out to its target anywhere inside the tower's range, hovers just short of it and fires; when the wave is over it flies home and lands. It shoots its chin gun at levels 1-3, rocket volleys that splash at levels 4-6, and both from level 7, and from level 8 every hit does +50% more. It hits ground and air, one enemy at a time, never overheats and costs 200 gold. Build your own Helicopter ### Attributes Level 1, on the ground Cost 200 gold to build Unlock 18,000 XP XP to research it (main menu, Upgrades & Research) Sell value 150 gold 75% of the gold spent on it; all of it back within 15 seconds of placing Can hit Ground & Air Damage 15 Fire rate 2/s DPS 30 damage a second, one hit on one target, before armour Range 24 12 tiles Targets at once 1 target Power uses 10 all the time It works all the time, so it has no standby. Switch it off to free its power. Neighbours +15% damage, +10% fire rate each Same-type towers on its four sides, up to four (+60% / +40%). Connected Helicopters need 25% less power. Platforms +8% damage, +0.5 range a level of height Small +1, Medium +2, Large +3, up to 3 stacked. Hills up to 15 (above 5 is rare). Ground Grass: −5% damage No penalty on rock, or on a platform (it stands on steel, even over grass) Level parts Base: 1 green level light, plate 01 Research 5 items, 5 levels each 250 / 750 / 2,000 / 6,000 / 15,000 XP a level, 120,000 XP for all. Damage, Fire Rate, Range, Deep Wound, Poison Cards Damage, Fire Rate, Range, Deep Wound, Poison, Armor Damage, Shield Damage End-of-wave cards: up to 5 of each a game, then Endless cards Base numbers: no research, cards or neighbours. (+n) is the change from the level before. ### How to use it #### Reach the far side The helicopter flies to its target anywhere inside the tower's range, so one helipad covers a wide circle of path, ground and sky alike, from bends other towers cannot see. #### Pick a damage focus Health focus (the one it starts with) gives +25% damage. Shield focus or Armor focus instead make its extra damage to shields or armour 1.5x, without the +25%. Change it in the tower's panel for the enemies you face. #### Rockets for crowds From level 4 it fires rocket volleys, and each rocket also hits every other enemy within 2 of where it lands for 60% of its damage. Against packs, those levels pay off. #### Give it a moment It sits on its pad between waves and needs a few seconds to spin up, lift off and fly out, and it only fires once it is hovering at its target. Keep a gun near the start of the path for the first enemies of a wave. #### Build in rows, go high Each Helicopter on the four sides of another gives it +15% damage and +10% fire rate (up to +60% and +40%); the helicopters keep clear of each other in the air. Each level of hill or platform under the pad gives +8% damage and +0.5 range; on bare grass it loses 5% damage, unless it stands on a platform. ### Build it Pick a level, research, end-of-wave cards, damage focus and where it stands, and see what one Helicopter ends up doing, worked out the way the game does it: each hit, its crit chance, the guns and rockets it fires and the damage per second. Share the build with a link. How the configurer works it out (formula, card values, share-link format) #### How the game adds it up - **Damage:** level base x (1 + neighbours x 0.15) x (1 + height x 0.08) x ground (0.95 on bare grass, else 1) x (1 + research %) x (1 + cards % + Endless %) - **Fire rate:** level base x (1 + neighbours x 0.1) x (1 + research %) x (1 + cards % + Endless %) - **Range:** level base + height x 0.5 + level base x (research % + cards % + Endless %) - **Dps:** damage x fire rate, one hit on one target, before splash, afflictions and armour - **Rule:** Every source multiplies damage and fire rate; cards and Endless cards of one stat add into one percent. Range percents are all of the levelled base, added. #### End-of-wave cards Each wave offers 3 cards. Up to 5 cards of each stat a game, then that stat comes only as grey Endless cards (a random amount in the range shown). Percent per card: | Card | Normal | Common | Rare | Epic | Legendary | Mythical | Endless | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Damage | 2% | 5% | 10% | 15% | 25% | 35% | 1-5% | | Fire Rate | 2% | 5% | 10% | 15% | 25% | 35% | 1-5% | | Range | 2% | 5% | 10% | 15% | 25% | 35% | 1-5% | | Deep Wound | 1% | 1% | 2% | 2% | 3% | 3% | 1% | | Poison | 1% | 1% | 2% | 2% | 3% | 3% | 1% | | Armor Damage | 2% | 4% | 6% | 8% | 10% | 12% | 2% | | Shield Damage | 2% | 4% | 6% | 8% | 10% | 12% | 2% | #### Research Unlock: 18,000 XP; its upgrades: 120,000 XP for all. - **Helicopter Damage:** +10% a level, 5 levels (+50%), 250, 750, 2,000, 6,000, 15,000 XP - **Helicopter Fire Rate:** +6% a level, 5 levels (+30%), 250, 750, 2,000, 6,000, 15,000 XP - **Helicopter Range:** +6% a level, 5 levels (+30%), 250, 750, 2,000, 6,000, 15,000 XP - **Helicopter Deep Wound:** +1% a level, 5 levels (+5%), 250, 750, 2,000, 6,000, 15,000 XP - **Helicopter Poison:** +1% a level, 5 levels (+5%), 250, 750, 2,000, 6,000, 15,000 XP #### Where it stands - Each same-type neighbour on its four sides: +15% damage, +10% fire rate (up to 4). - Each level of height (hill + platforms): +8% damage, +0.5 range. - Bare grass: damage x0.95 (no penalty on rock, or on a platform: it stands on steel, even over grass). One tile is 2 range units. #### This tower's own rule - One helicopter: guns to level 3, rockets to 6, both from 7; a hit does the damage x 1.25 (Health focus), x 1.5 from level 8, crits (12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30%) x 1.5. #### Worked examples - [`#build:l10~r.damage.5~c.damage.55555~e.damage.5x10`](https://blockadebrigade.com/towers/helicopter#build:l10~r.damage.5~c.damage.55555~e.damage.5x10): damage 424.12, fire rate 3.8/s, DPS 1,612, range 37.5. - [`#build:l10~r.damage.5~c.damage.55555~e.damage.5x10~n3~h15`](https://blockadebrigade.com/towers/helicopter#build:l10~r.damage.5~c.damage.55555~e.damage.5x10~n3~h15): damage 1352.96, fire rate 4.94/s, DPS 6,684, range 45. #### Share-link format A build is the page address + `#build:` + parts joined by `~`, in any order; parts left out are 0 / none. Opening the link loads the build and scrolls here. Links shared from the page also carry `?utm_source=...&utm_medium=...&utm_campaign=tower_build&utm_content=...` before the hash; they are optional. - `l`: tower level 1..10 - `r..`: research level 0..5 of a research item (damage, fire_rate, range_radius, deep_wound, poison) - `c..`: end-of-wave cards of one stat, one digit per card = its rarity (0 Normal, 1 Common, 2 Rare, 3 Epic, 4 Legendary, 5 Mythical); at most 5 a stat - `e..x`: Endless cards of one stat: count cards of +amount% (only once that stat has 5 cards) - `n`: same-type neighbours touching it, 0..4 - `h`: height: hill + platform levels, 0..15 - `g`: standing on bare grass (no platform) - `s`: level of the Cold Snap over it, 0 = none (1..10) - `sp0`: that Cold Snap has no power (it cools nothing) - `w`: water tiles beside it, 0..4 (sides not taken by neighbours) - `k`: towers in its connected chain, itself included (at least neighbours + 1) - `kw`: water tiles beside the whole chain ### Every level Base numbers: no research, cards, height or neighbours, before its damage focus, crits and the level-8 boost. Damage is what one gun shot's worth does; damage per second = damage x fire rate, shared by the guns and rockets it has at that level. Power is what it needs the whole time, waiting or flying. | Level | Upgrade | Total spent | Damage | Fire rate | DPS | Range | Power | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | build 200 | 200 | 15 | 2/s | 30 | 24 | 10 | | 2 | 260 | 460 | 23 | 2.2/s | 51 | 25.5 | 12 | | 3 | 338 | 798 | 31 | 2.4/s | 74 | 27 | 14 | | 4 | 439 | 1,237 | 39 | 2.6/s | 101 | 28.5 | 16 | | 5 | 571 | 1,808 | 47 | 2.8/s | 132 | 30 | 18 | | 6 | 742 | 2,550 | 55 | 3/s | 165 | 31.5 | 20 | | 7 | 965 | 3,515 | 63 | 3.2/s | 202 | 33 | 22 | | 8 | 1,254 | 4,769 | 71 | 3.4/s | 241 | 34.5 | 24 | | 9 | 1,631 | 6,400 | 79 | 3.6/s | 284 | 36 | 26 | | 10 | 2,120 | 8,520 | 87 | 3.8/s | 331 | 37.5 | 28 | **Levels 1-3**The chin gun only, one round per shot at its target. **Levels 4-6**Rocket pods only: every 4 shots' worth of time it fires a volley carrying all that damage, and each rocket splashes 60% onto enemies within 2. **Levels 7-10**Guns (55% of its damage) and rockets (45%) together. From level 8 every hit does +50% more, and its crit chance keeps growing: 12% at level 1, 30% at level 10, each crit doing +50%. ### Research Research (main menu, Upgrades & Research) makes every Helicopter you build stronger. Each item has 5 levels for 250, 750, 2,000, 6,000 and 15,000 XP (24,000 XP for all 5). #### Helicopter Damage +10% damage a level, +50% at level 5, for guns and rockets alike. #### Helicopter Fire Rate +6% fire rate a level, +30% at level 5. The rocket volleys come sooner too. #### Helicopter Range +6% range a level, +30% at level 5: the helicopter flies out further from its pad. #### Helicopter Deep Wound Each level: enemies a Helicopter hits, by round, rocket or splash, take 1% more damage from every tower for 4 seconds (5% at level 5). Wounds from different kinds of tower add up. #### Helicopter Poison Each level: a hit leaves poison worth 1% of the hit's damage every second for 4 seconds (5% at level 5). Poison goes straight to health, past shield and armour. #### Height and ground - Each level of height: **+8% damage** and **+0.5 range**. - Hills: up to 15 levels on every map; above 5 is rare. - Platforms (small +1, medium +2, large +3) stack up to 3 high: up to 9 more levels, on flat ground or on a hill. Research unlocks the sizes and stacking. - Highest it can stand: 24 levels, **+192% damage, +12 range**. - On grass: **−5% damage**; no penalty on rock, or on a platform (it stands on steel, even over grass). ### Helicopter FAQ Can the Helicopter hit flying enemies? Yes. It hits ground and air, with its guns and its rockets. Why does my Helicopter not fire at the start of a wave? Between waves it sits on its pad. When a wave starts it spins up its rotors, lifts off and only then flies to its first target; it fires once it is hovering just short of it and facing it. That takes a few seconds, longer for a target at the far edge of its range. Which damage focus should I pick? Health focus, the one it starts with, gives +25% to all its damage and suits most waves. Shield focus makes its extra damage to shields 1.5x, Armor focus its extra damage to armour 1.5x; neither gets the +25%, so pick them only against waves of heavily shielded or armoured enemies. What changes at levels 4 and 7? Levels 1-3 fire the chin gun only. Levels 4-6 swap it for rocket pods: the same damage, fired in volleys, and each rocket splashes 60% of its damage onto enemies within 2. From level 7 it uses both, 55% of its damage by gun and 45% by rocket, and from level 8 every hit does +50% more. Does the Helicopter get critical hits? Yes. Each round or rocket has a 12% chance to crit at level 1, growing to 30% at level 10; a crit does +50% damage, and +50% to shields and armour too. Can it hit a Domeguard? Yes, and better than most: its shots come in over the top, so the Domeguard's armour does not stop them, and they still get in when its bubble is up. What happens if my power runs out during a wave? A Helicopter that is already in the air keeps fighting until the wave is over, then lands and stays down until its power is back. It needs power the whole time, not only while it has a target: 10 at level 1 and 28 at level 10. Is its range measured from the helicopter or the pad? From the pad. The helicopter goes after the tower's target, which must be inside the tower's range, and always hovers inside that circle. Range research, cards and height make the circle bigger. --- About the whole site: https://blockadebrigade.com/llms.txt