Helicopter: Tower Stats, Upgrades, Tips: The Helicopter in Blockade Brigade: 200 gold, an attack helicopter that hits ground and air. Guns, rockets, damage focus, levels, research and FAQ.

Plain-text version for AI assistants: https://blockadebrigade.com/llms-page-towers-helicopter.txt. Site guide: https://blockadebrigade.com/llms.txt

Basic Tower

Helicopter

Attack helicopter: chin gun, then rocket pods, then both

200 goldGround + AirResearch 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.

Helicopter
Build your own Helicopter

Attributes Level 1, on the ground

Cost
200 gold to build
Unlock
18,000 XPXP 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 eachSame-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 heightSmall +1, Medium +2, Large +3, up to 3 stacked. Hills up to 15 (above 5 is rare).
Ground
Grass: −5% damageNo 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 each250 / 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 DamageEnd-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:

CardNormalCommonRareEpicLegendaryMythicalEndless
Damage2%5%10%15%25%35%1-5%
Fire Rate2%5%10%15%25%35%1-5%
Range2%5%10%15%25%35%1-5%
Deep Wound1%1%2%2%3%3%1%
Poison1%1%2%2%3%3%1%
Armor Damage2%4%6%8%10%12%2%
Shield Damage2%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

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<N>: tower level 1..10
  • r.<stat>.<N>: research level 0..5 of a research item (damage, fire_rate, range_radius, deep_wound, poison)
  • c.<stat>.<digits>: 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.<stat>.<amount>x<count>: Endless cards of one stat: count cards of +amount% (only once that stat has 5 cards)
  • n<N>: same-type neighbours touching it, 0..4
  • h<N>: height: hill + platform levels, 0..15
  • g: standing on bare grass (no platform)
  • s<N>: level of the Cold Snap over it, 0 = none (1..10)
  • sp0: that Cold Snap has no power (it cools nothing)
  • w<N>: water tiles beside it, 0..4 (sides not taken by neighbours)
  • k<N>: towers in its connected chain, itself included (at least neighbours + 1)
  • kw<N>: 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.

LevelUpgradeTotal spentDamageFire rateDPSRangePower
1build 200200152/s302410
2260460232.2/s5125.512
3338798312.4/s742714
44391,237392.6/s10128.516
55711,808472.8/s1323018
67422,550553/s16531.520
79653,515633.2/s2023322
81,2544,769713.4/s24134.524
91,6316,400793.6/s2843626
102,1208,520873.8/s33137.528

Levels 1-3The chin gun only, one round per shot at its target.

Levels 4-6Rocket 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 7-10Guns (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.