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BTD6

Even more powerful Maelstrom ability and lasts longer.
~ In-game description

Super Maelstrom is the final Path 2 upgrade for the Tack Shooter in Bloons TD 6. Super Maelstrom enhances the ability significantly by increasing duration, damage, pierce, and distribution area of the Blade Maelstrom ability (four sawblade spinners instead of two sawblade spinners along a more curved arc). All blades from Super Maelstrom deal 2 damage, and ability blades can pop Frozen but not Lead and main attack blades can pop Frozen and Lead. Its ability will emit blades every 0.045 seconds (0.03825s with 1-5-0, 0.03252s with 2-5-0) with 500 pierce. Duration of Super Maelstrom ability increases from 3 to 9 seconds, further increased by 1.5s per Path 3 crosspath, up to 12 seconds with 0-5-2. Cooldown for ability remains at 20 seconds. Neither the basic attack nor the special ability can pop Camo Bloons without support.

This upgrade costs $12,750 on Easy, $15,000 on Medium, $16,200 on Hard, and $18,000 on Impoppable.

Description[]

Overview[]

Placeholder other

Super Maelstrom ability activated

This upgrade is wider than its predecessor, and its base is cut to allow another white twelve-tooth clockwise spinning apparatus operate through it. The top section's color changes from a grey background to a blue background, and the emblem's color changes from light-gray to cyan.

Upgrading to Super Maelstrom increases the damage of main blades and ability blades by +1, from 1 to 2. The ability becomes the Super Maelstrom Ability, which sends four blades per shot in a much wider arc, pop up to 300 bloons each instead of 120, and lasts for 9 seconds instead of 3. Crosspathing further improves the duration and pierce of the blades; Path 1 crosspaths improve pierce by +100 each, and Path 3 crosspaths increase duration by +3s each.

Activated Abilities[]

See also: Activated Abilities#Super Maelstrom
SuperMaelstromUpgradeIconAA

Super Maelstrom Ability

Super Maelstrom improves the ability to produces four sprays of continuous blades clockwise (anti-clockwise if 0-5-1+) for the ability duration. It lasts for 9 seconds, 10.5 seconds with 0-5-1, and 12 seconds with 0-5-2. These powerful blades pierce 300 bloons, 400 with 1-5-0 and 500 with 2-5-0. As a purely duration-oriented ability, it cannot be reactivated while the ability is active. Cooldown of 20 seconds.

As a Primary Monkey, Super Maelstrom can receive faster cooldowns from Primary Mentoring and Primary Expertise. Like all ability-based towers, it can have its ability cooldowns reset by Geraldo's Rejuv Potion, and cooldown reduced by the global Energizer buff and special Monkey Knowledge.

Targeting Priorities[]

Super Maelstrom's main attack shoots a spray of projectiles in an radial spray. Its ability is a rotational spray, rotating at a constant rate as it dispenses multiple blades per shot. Technically, the Tack Shooter is locked on the Close targeting priority. However, for simplicity reasons, Super Maelstorm has no targeting priorities.

Full Popology[]

Statistics[]

Updated as of Version 41.0
Base stats
  • Blades:
    • Projectile, normal type, 8 per shot, 31 range, 1.19s attack cooldown, 2 damage, 6 pierce.
Ability stats
  • Super Maelstorm:
    • Lasts for 9 seconds, 20 seconds cooldown, 6.67 seconds initial cooldown.
    • Emits 4 blades every 0.045s dealing shatter damage type, 2 damage, and 500 pierce. Dispersion continually rotates clockwise at a rate of 1 full cycle every 1.0s.
Crosspathing interactions
  • 1-5-0:
    • Attacks faster, 0.8925s (-25%) instead of 1.19s. Ability blades attack cooldown reduced from 0.045s to 0.03825s.
  • 2-5-0:
    • Attacks even faster, 0.669375s (-25%) instead of 0.8925s from the previous 1-5-0. Ability blades attack cooldown reduced from 0.03825s to 0.03252s
  • 0-5-1:
    • Fires 10 blades per volley instead of 8. Ability duration increased by +1.5 seconds (total 10.5s). Ability blades now spin in a counter-clockwise direction.
  • 0-5-2:
    • Fires 12 blades per volley instead of 10. Ability duration increased by +1.5 seconds (total 12s).
Monkey Knowledge interactions

Attack Interactions[]

See also: Attack Interactions/Bloons TD 6/Primary
Updated as of Version 41.0
Base attack(s)
  • Blades:
    • Normal Type (pops Black, White, Purple, Lead, Frozen) Normal
    • Orbital Spray (spray of 8) Orbital Spray (8)
    • Straight Attack Straight Attack
    • Extra damage to all bloon types (1 → 2) Extra Damage
Ability
  • Super Maelstrom:
    • Shatter Type (pops Black, White, Purple, Frozen) Shatter
    • Rotational Spray (constantly rotate clockwise for 9 Rotational Spray (4)
    • Full Map Range (unspecified description of how the tower can attack beyond basic range) Full Map Range
    • Ignores Line of Sight Ignores Line of Sight
    • Extra damage to all bloon types (1 → 2) Extra Damage (2)

Costs[]

Updated as of Version 41.0. Listed prices exclude external buffs, any sacrifices, and Monkey Knowledge.
[Module | Data] Purchase Sell
Costs Easy Medium Hard Impoppable Easy Medium Hard Impoppable
Upgrade (X-5-X) $12,750 $15,000 $16,200 $18,000 -
Total (0-5-0) $16,025 $18,855 $20,365 $22,625 $11,218 $13,199 $14,256 $15,838
Crosspath (1-5-0) $16,150 $19,005 $20,525 $22,805 $11,305 $13,304 $14,368 $15,964
Crosspath (2-5-0) $16,405 $19,305 $20,850 $23,165 $11,484 $13,514 $14,595 $16,216
Crosspath (0-5-1) $16,110 $18,955 $20,475 $22,745 $11,277 $13,269 $14,333 $15,922
Crosspath (0-5-2) $16,195 $19,055 $20,585 $22,865 $11,337 $13,339 $14,410 $16,006

This upgrade's prices (or included crosspath's prices) are affected by the following MK: ComeOnEverybodyIcon Come On Everybody!, BetterSellDealsIcon Better Sell Deals

Strategy[]

Summary[]

Super Maelstrom is an effective low-cost tower for providing high popping power within a tight location and across the entire screen. It becomes most effective on Race Events that enable Tack Shooters, as many rounds can be sent at once for the Super Maelstrom ability to obliterate the vast amounts of bloons coming out in order to gain a significant amount of damage with one single ability usage. It becomes an excellent almost-solo tower with Pat, easily melting dense RBE rounds. Similarly, it benefits hugely from towers that add bloon vulnerability, especially Super Brittle and Glue Strike.

Tips[]

  • The blades of its ability have extremely high pierce and thus can tear through even grouped Ceramic Bloons if they are close enough to the tower. This also applies to Blade Maelstrom too.
  • The Super Maelstrom ability can be affected by any type of buff that would normally apply to it. The most beneficial buffs it is able to receive and optimize its performance are: extra damage, extra attack speed, reduced ability cooldowns, and projectile speed, in that order.
  • Placing a Super Maelstrom such that it is placed right underneath the hitbox of blimps can allow the ability to inflict heaps of damage.
    • Just like The Tack Zone, it is important to utilize the "death zone"; this is the point of origin where bloons will be dealt the greatest damage. The center of the Super Maelstrom should be just below the dark blue circle on its blade symbol.
  • Pair with damage buffs such as Level 3+ Pat Fusty or bloon debuffs such as Super Brittle for even more damage with the ability. Overclock is a good idea to apply onto too, as this will greatly increase the maximum numbers of blades sent during the Super Maelstrom ability, but for the best results it should only be applied once preparing for a Super Maelstrom activation.
  • The ability is affected by any upgrade that grants extra attack speed, such as Jungle Drums or Overclock. Therefore, with any attack speed buff it will unleash many more blades per second. Stronger Stimulant is not recommended for this, as each individual spray of the ability will consume each unit of Alch buff, but Permanent Brew can work.
  • Like The Tack Zone, Super Maelstrom pairs exceptionally well with Pat Fusty, whose Rallying Roar ability heavily amplifies total damage of the ability, thereby shredding rounds with ease once both Super Maelstrom and Pat's Rallying Roar abilities are activated simultaneously. Combining this with Overclock will optimize the Super Maelstrom ability's damage potential.
    • Pat + Super Maelstrom is much stronger than Pat + The Tack Zone if proper stalling, bloon stacking, and ability timing are all done correctly.
  • Its tendency to leak means that it tends to be seen with other cleanup towers such as Perma-Spike. However, proper techniques to optimize Super Maelstrom can help make it the cleanup tower.
  • Crosspathing affects the Super Maelstrom ability greatly. 2-5-0 maximises pierce for its blades, which mainly comes into play for Race Events, whereas 0-5-2 increases duration and changes to anti-clockwise. 0-5-2 is usually better for general purposes, since the higher uptime adds more overall DPS outside of Races. For the base attack, 2-5-0 is usually the better crosspath.
  • During the course of the ability, up to 270 groups of 4 blades are shot. This is because blades are shot every 0.0333s, equivalent to 30 attacks per second.
    • Therefore, if all blades hit the same target, it will do up to 2,160 damage to that bloon, excluding buffs such as Stronger Stimulant or Pat Fusty's Rallying Roar.
    • With an active Level 14+ Rallying Roar, the total damage potential on single-target bloons increases to 5,400 instead of 2,160, assuming his ability lasts more than the duration of Super Maelstrom. This alone does not mean much, but this is an ability with extremely high pierce, so this will do far more impact onto very densely packed bloons. For instance, a Fortified BFB has around 1,624 health on Round 98, so a well-placed and well-timed Super Maelstrom ability should pop open incredibly high numbers of them within a short time.
  • With 0-5-2 crosspath, adding just an Energizer and Primary Expertise is enough for Super Maelstrom's ability to have almost completely 100% uptime, down to a measly 0.8s downtime, or 0.4s with GlobalAbilityCooldownsIcon Global Ability Cooldowns.
    • Because of the extremely high uptime of 0-5-2 Super Maelstrom's ability in combination with Energizer and Primary Expertise, it is a good idea to add a Tech Bot to automate the ability. Otherwise, simply spam-click on the ability icon.

Version History[]

Balance Changes[]

Super Maelstrom has been buffed overall, as its ability now deals more damage and lasts much, much longer. The elimination of infinite pierce is negligible because each Super Maelstrom ability blade has an arbitrarily high pierce anyway. Like normal Maelstrom, Super Maelstrom got some reworks focusing on crosspathing benefits for the ability, but Super Maelstrom also got a nerf to its ability to no longer pop Lead Bloons, likely as a major counter against Race Events.

4.0
  • BUFF Super Maelstrom duration increased (4s (?) → 6s)
  • BUFF Damage dealt by Super Maelstrom main attack and its ability increased (1 → 2)
7.0
  • BUFF Base attack speed increased (1.36s → 1.19s), as a result of base Tack Shooter attack speed buff. Doesn't affect Super Maelstrom ability.
11.0
  • BUFF Super Maelstrom ability duration increased (6s → 9s)
24.0
Maelstrom upgrades are in a good spot overall, but specifically for the low cost of this tower with such a rapid cooldown it was able to hit too many targets under race conditions. This targeted nerf is to the value of it under those race conditions and should be negligible in other game areas.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • NERF Super Maelstrom ability popping power is now limited (infinite → 500)
37.0
Blade Shooter has always struggled to find much value without MK or as a step to Maelstrom, so to give it build value on its own we feel like this should be a part of the base value on the upgrade.
~ Ninja Kiwi, referring to Blade Shooter
  • BUFF Affected by Blade Shooter pierce buff
38.0
[...] Maelstrom crosspathing? Why not, feels that this could be cool to try out, and more consistency on bottom crosspath may be able to make it the preferred ability crosspath while top path which already improves the base tower more will give back the massive pierce amount for times where the greater punch per use is required.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • Change 0-5-1 Super Maelstrom now changes rotation direction to counter-clockwise
  • NERF Super Maelstorm pierce reduced across all crosspaths except for 2-5-0.
    • NERF 0-5-x Super Maelstrom pierce reduced 500 → 300
    • NERF 1-5-0 Super Maelstrom pierce reduced 500 → 400
    • Change 2-5-0 Super Maelstrom pierce remains at 500
  • BUFF 0-5-1 Blade Maelstrom duration increased 9s → 10.5s
  • BUFF 0-5-2 Blade Maelstrom duration increased 9s → 12s
41.0
[...] The recent ability crosspathing for Tack Shooter was fun but feels too lopsided as pierce concerns are very niche on Maelstrom, instead we want to shift this entire focus around for top path to be the rate crosspath for more damage in a shorter amount of time and leaving bottom mainly about greater overall uptime.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • NERF Super Maelstrom ability damage type changed from Normal to Shatter
  • BUFF Super Maelstrom ability pierce increased on all crosspaths
    • BUFF 0-5-x Super Maelstrom ability pierce increased from 300 to 500
    • BUFF 1-5-0 Super Maelstrom ability pierce increased from 400 to 500
  • NERF Super Maelstrom attack cooldown reduced for all crosspaths but Path 1 crosspaths now offer extra attack speed.
    • NERF 0-5-x Super Maelstrom ability attack cooldown increased from 0.03s to 0.045s.
    • NERF 1-5-0 Super Maelstrom attack cooldown increased from 0.03s to 0.0383s, reducing attack cooldown by 15%.
    • NERF 2-5-0 Super Maelstrom attack cooldown increased from 0.03s to 0.0325s, reducing attack cooldown by 15%.

Bug Fixes and General Changes[]

Sounds[]

When activating Super Maelstrom Ability:

Gallery[]

Official artwork[]

Videos[]

Trivia[]

  • The Super Maelstrom upgrade costs ~53.57x more than the base tower ($280) on Medium.
  • It is the third (tied with Ultra-Juggernaut) cheapest Tier-5 price alone, and only costs $2,000 more than the 1st on Medium. Also, it is almost the cheapest in the game with its total cost, $18,855 on Medium (Ultra-Juggernaut is cheaper, at $17,660 total on Medium).
  • It is one of the few tier 5s that can be afforded in a normal Deflation mode, the others being Ultra-Juggernaut, Elite Defender, The Tack Zone, and Crossbow Master (though the last three require specific Monkey Knowledge).
  • Super Maelstrom's upgrade portrait uses a similar style to BTD5's Blade Maelstrom upgrade portrait, featuring the detailed maelstrom of blades.
    • Ironically, BTD6 Maelstrom's upgrade portrait features no dispersion of blades, merely showing the appearance of the blade machine.


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