Perma-Spike (BTDB2)

BTDB2

“	High damage spikes become almost permanent	”
	^{~ BTDB2 description}

Perma-Spike is the 5th upgrade on Path 3 of the Spike Factory in Bloons TD Battles 2. Unlike its BTD6 counterpart, it lacks a round lifespan, though its premise as a slow high-damage stockpiling factory remains in this game. Spike piles last for 300s, deal 10 damage per spike (specified "spike", not "spike pile"), and each spike pile has 50 pierce (90 with 1-0-5), and also produces spikes much faster every 3 seconds (rather than 6.06s, as in BTD6). During the start of each round, it attacks 4x faster for 5.0s.

It costs $30,000, and is unlocked with a one-off purchase of 1500 for unlocking all Tier 5 upgrades of Spike Factory.

Strategy[]

Summary[]

Capable of producing a huge stockpile, Perma-Spike can deal a lot of overall damage if allowed to sustain stockpiles over time. Unlike in BTD6, there isn't much that can be done to stall rounds. Instead, avoiding letting the stockpiles be touched is key. Its main use case is tanking R26-30 rushes, especially DDT and Tight Ceramic rushes, and singular BADs.

Tips[]

Use 2-0-5 if you don't have any support towers that allows the Permaspike to pop Lead or DDTs, although due to the slower production, you need to be careful until it has enough spikes to tank enough DDTs. Otherwise the 0-2-5 crosspath is better.
The Alchemist can buff a Spike Factory with 100% uptime and due to attack speed buffs stacking multiplicatively makes the 0-2-5 crosspath much stronger.
Ideally, place the Permaspike in an area of the map that AI bloons won't hit and far enough back that it can build up a large pile to defend later rushes rather than using it to defend normal bloon sends.
During the start of a round, a 0-2-5 produces spikes about every 0.42s, which after 2.5s results in almost 6 spikes for that duration. Adding an Alchemist can help maximize its power, and even with that start-of-round boost, it won't deplete all its AMD buffs so quickly.

Version History[]

Initial release (compared to BTD6 during Version 28.0)

Perma-Spike no longer has a round-based duration

1.1.0

29,500 XP → 14,750 XP

1.5.0

No longer requires 14,750 XP to unlock. Players who have unlocked this upgrade before the update will not receive a full refund, as well as unlock all Tier 5 Spike Factory upgrades.

1.8.0

Perma-Spike attack cooldown decreased 4.85s → 4.5s

1.10.0

Perma-Spike damage increased 10 → 15

1.10.3

Perma-spike damage decreased 15 → 10
Perma-spike attack cooldown decreased 4.5s → 3s

“	Acknowledging complaints about the previous pierce buff making Perma-Spike perform worse against ceramics (before round 30), we have reverted this change and given it a rate buff instead.	”
	^{~ Ninja Kiwi}

3.2

Perma-Spike start-of-round speed boost duration increased (2.5s -> 6.0s)

“	Spike Factory’s bottom path has potential but often is not the best option because it must be bought in advance to build up a decent pile. Since the bottom path is all about longer durations, we’ve increased the duration of the speed boost at the start of each round, allowing slightly beefier spike piles to be built up in the short term.	”
	^{~ Ninja Kiwi}

3.3

Perma-Spike start-of-round speed increase decreased from 6s to 5s

“	We liked the previous change to xx3 and are glad to see this upgrade frequently being used now. However, it’s a bit too strong and so we would like to slightly lower the duration of the speed boost.	”
	^{~ Ninja Kiwi}

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

The attack design of the v1.10.3 Permaspike sort of resembles the Permaspike in the initial release of BTD6, except the middle crosspath cooldowns were slightly less and the 1-0-5 crosspath provided less pierce.
The current Perma-Spike has slightly over double the attack speed compared to its BTD6 counterpart.