What does the Sniper ELITE targeting actually do?

[RarelyActive]

In the bio, it says it gives the Sniper 'ELITE targeting priority', but what does that ACTUALLY mean?

[gruetoo]

They target Strong, but switches to First if the bloons are far enough along the track. I don't recall the exact breakpoint, though.

[Sbeve]

Originally posted by gruetoo:

They target Strong, but switches to First if the bloons are far enough along the track. I don't recall the exact breakpoint, though.

I'm pretty sure it also prioritises ceramics, I remember seeing someone say it in a comment under a reddit post, not sure if its true though.

[DanaO]

I've been operating under the hypothesis it should allow snipers to prioritize bloons based on a threat assessment combining each targetable bloon's RBE (red bloon equivalent, or damage done if it escapes), time remaining to kill it based on its speed and distance, and effectiveness of the specific sniper's ammo against that bloon, so that each shot has maximum theoretical effectiveness on the battlefield at the expense of playing a defined role in your defense setup.

But that's mostly because that's how I'd have implemented something with that in-game description; it's hard to be sure exactly what it's really doing, and I certainly haven't done the proper experimentation to test it. And you could probably approximate that effect with a much cheaper approach.

[baby]

It's a mix of what everyone said, but I'd suggest not having all your snipers on Elite, and to make sure you keep some on "First".

I've had around maybe 10~ snipers on Elite once, I was being rushed by Moabs, instead of killing the first Moab and the small bloons that's coming out of it, i noticed them damaging all moabs and sometimes priortized them, over the small bloons.. and by the time small bloons are near the end, it would be too late for their elite priority to deal with them.

In short: It's good but not reliable 100% to have all your snipers on it. It would make a good sniper, but not for all snipers :P

[Xuhybrid]

It's basically Strong+First depending on how far down the track they are.

[DarkMatter]

when set to elite, Snipers will target Strong Bloons normally and then change targeting to First when bloons are near the exit, specifically once bloons reach at least 75% of the bloon track. Snipers set to Elite will also prioritize Ceramic Bloons over MOAB-Class Bloons.