Blade Trap

“	Place this on the track and watch the first Bloons to touch it get shredded by the great whirling blades!	”
	^{~ Description of "Blade Trap" at Geraldo Level 7-14}

“	Place this on the track and watch the first Bloons to touch it get shredded by the great whirling blades! Newer more powerful model!	”
	^{~ Description of "Blade Trap" at Geraldo Level 15+}

BladeTrapPlus — Blade Trap Plus (Level 15+)

The Blade Trap is an item in Bloons TD 6 purchasable from Geraldo's Shop beginning at Level 7. It is a single-use road-item that can be placed on the bloon track, similar to the Glue and Camo Trap. Any Bloon that touches the trap triggers a twin rotational spray of blades spewing from the origin of the trap, similarly to the Blade Maelstrom ability.

Blade Trap spews sharp-type blades at a rate of 30 per second over 3 seconds, each with 1 Damage and 200 pierce. At Level 15+, the Blade Trap's blades act like Super Maelstrom, firing quad sprays of blades at the same rate as its predecessor, each with 2 damage, 500 pierce, and pops all bloon types. Traps will disappear once done firing and neither will be able to damage Camo Bloons without Geraldo himself having camo detection.

There is initially one Blade Trap in stock, and it takes 5 rounds to restock, up to a max capacity of 4.

It costs $550 on Easy, $650 on Medium, $700 on Hard, and $780 on Impoppable.

Strategy[]

Summary[]

The Blade Trap allows players to buy a single-use Blade/Super Maelstrom ability, without having to invest in the entire tower. Thus, it is a cheap way to dynamically adjust a defense against bloon rush rounds like Round 63. Furthermore, the added flexibility this ability provides allows players to draw out their cash save-ups and safely afford expensive Tier 5 towers, a crucial aspect of CHIMPS strategies. Be wary, however, as the Blade Trap is unable to directly receive tower buffs, except camo detection on Geraldo himself. Nevertheless, the Blade Trap remains one of Geraldo's most cost-effective, and useful items for dealing with sudden Bloon surges.

Tips[]

It is actually possible for the Level 7-14 Blade Trap to pop Lead Bloons if the Glue Strike or Glue Storm ability is triggered. However, this is an unlikely interaction that usually does not matter, as by the time the lead-popping is actually needed (such as against DDTs), natural leveling allows the Blade Trap Plus to be unlocked by then.
Giving Geraldo a See Invisibility Potion is a guaranteed way for Blade Trap to detect camo directly. Otherwise, just use decamo methods to strip the camo properties.
It takes two Blade Traps to take down the Round 40 MOAB's outer layer. However, it is generally cheaper to just handle the MOAB layer elsewhere and use only one Blade Trap to shred the innards.
Some bloons can still pass the Blade Trap. On very short maps, a Tube of Amaz-o-Glue + Blade Trap should guarantee that the offspring of a single MOAB are wiped out cleanly.

Version History[]

Balance Changes[]

Like many support-oriented items, various Geraldo items were nerfed, Blade Trap among the most nerfed in Version 32.0. Various nerfs were implemented to reduce its spammability and minimize the upgraded Blade Trap's power in the late-game, specifically reducing its max stock, increasing its price, and removing the bonus duration of the Super Maelstrom Trap.

31.0

Released

31.1

[bug fix] Blade Trap now correctly use Impoppable prices on Impoppable.

32.0

“	Many of Geraldo's items are too strong for the required maintenance, Geraldo SHOULD be a top level hero, he is literally designed to be so as the most rewarding for your player knowledge and reaction to moment to moment gameplay, but too many items reward spammable gameplay over these knowledge & reactions so we are targeting a lot of durations/stock amounts with minimal price increases where it feels necessary. These are clearly a lot of small steps, as we did not want to do too many big changes from multiple angles all at once.	”
	^{~ Ninja Kiwi}

Blade Trap max stock reduced 5 to 3
Blade Trap price increased from $500 to $650
Level 15+ Super Blade Trap no longer increases duration of the maelstrom, reducing duration from 9s to 3s

38.0

Blade Trap no longer takes one more round to refresh stock if bought from full stock

39.0

Blade Trap now detects camo if Geraldo has camo detection.

43.0

“	Geraldo has been far too powerful for a while and all-round nerfs are coming to many outstanding aspects, however in return a little quality of life is coming with some more forgiving stock capacities [...]	”
	^{~ Ninja Kiwi}

Blade Trap max stock increased from 3 to 4

Bug Fixes and General Changes[]

31.1

All Geraldo items now correctly use Impoppable prices on Impoppable.

39.0

Lv7 Blade Trap can now benefit from Camo granted to Geraldo

Sounds[]

Placing a Blade Trap:

[Sharpening of multiple blades]

When Blade Trap activates:

[Spraying]

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

There is only one way for the Level 7-14 Blade Trap to pop a normal Lead: using the either the Glue Strike or Glue Storm abilities to render all Lead Bloons vulnerable to all attacks.
Using the "Clear All Monkeys" button in Sandbox mode will not remove this item.
The Version 24.0 variant of Blade Maelstrom and Super Maelstrom were used in the original designs of the Blade Trap and upgraded Blade Trap attacks.