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BTD6

Creates gigantic exploding spiked mines that can wipe out almost anything.
~ In-game description

Super Mines is the fifth and final upgrade of Path 1 for the Spike Factory in Bloons TD 6. While this upgrade doubles the attack cooldown compared to Spiked Mines (from 1.75s to 3.5s), the Spike Factory produces much stronger mines that create much larger explosions (from 30 to 100 blast radius, 133 with 5-0-1) that deal enormous damage (1000 damage, +250 to Fortified, +500 to Ceramics) to up to 60 bloons per explosion (instead of 30 from Spiked Mines) and inflict super powerful burn that deals 2500 damage every 2.0s for up to 6.0s. Like most attacks, direct hits of spikes or explosions from Super Mines cannot penetrate through MOAB-class bloons, though mines that time out produce two simultaneous mega explosions. The Super Mines upgrade also increases damage of each spike from 2 to 50, with +30 against Ceramics and +15 against Fortified. Lastly, every time a super mine loses spikes, a mini explosion triggers, popping up to 30 bloons each with a blast radius of 30, dealing 20 damage plus another +15 and +5 against Ceramics and Fortified respectively. Each super mine contains 18 spikes.

This upgrade costs $106,250 on Easy, $125,000 on Medium, $135,000 on Hard, and $150,000 on Impoppable.

Description[]

Overview[]

Supermines overview

Super Mines with a stockpile of super mines

Super Mines is visibly larger than its previous upgrade, painted all black or dark grey save for the white skull-and-crossbones icon on the top of its port. In place of the red spikes lining the sides, it now bears 4 red vents, and in place of the metal supports, its sports 4 red tubes, linking into the base of the tower.

The mines themselves now bear red spikes and a deep red skull-and-crossbones symbol, and the main ball of each mine is tinted slightly red.

Super Mines increases spike damage to 50, with +20 vs ceramics and +15 vs Fortified, increases main explosion damage to 1000, +250 vs Fortified (2000 damage, +500 vs Fortified if mines expire by time) explosion pierce to 60, and explosion radius to 100 (133 with 5-0-1), and now has smaller explosions that trigger each time Super Mines loses a spike; these explosions deal 20 damage, +15 vs ceramics and +5 vs Fortified, with 30 pierce and a blast radius of 30. Burn damage per tick increases to 2500, at the same rate of every 2.0s for up to 6.0s. All explosions use Normal Type (pops Black, White, Purple, Lead, Frozen) Normal damage type. However, it now attacks twice as slow, with an attack cooldown of 3.5 seconds instead of 1.75 seconds. Note that Super Mines' main explosions, despite their extremely high damage, cannot penetrate through MOAB layers.

Targeting Priorities[]

Super Mines defaults to Normal targeting priority, which dispenses the spiked mines onto nearby bloon track in a semi-sporadical behavior. If given Smart Spikes, it will also receive Close, Far, and Smart.

  • Normal: Targets spike piles in a somewhat sporadical way, spreading spikes as evenly as possible within its range.
  • Close: Targets the closest region(s) of track within range.
  • Far: Targets the furthest region(s) of track within range.
  • Smart: Prioritizes the track with the Bloon the farthest through it, then targets the spot on that track closest to the exit.

Full Popology[]

Statistics[]

Updated as of Version 40.2
Base stats
  • Super Mine:
    • Lobbed spike pile, normal type, detects and deploys on nearby track, 34 range, 3.5s attack cooldown, 50 damage, 30 bonus Ceramic damage, 15 bonus Fortified damage, 18 pierce. Lifespan of 50s. Upon pierce loss, create Mini Explosion. Upon lifespan expiry, create two instances of Mega Explosion. Upon pierce expiry, create one instance of Mega Explosion.
  • Mini Explosion:
    • Burst, normal type, 20 damage, 15 bonus Ceramic damage, 5 bonus Fortified damage, 30 pierce, 30 blast radius.
  • Mega Explosion:
    • Burst, normal type, 1000 damage, 500 bonus Ceramic damage, 250 bonus Fortified damage, 60 pierce, 100 blast radius. Upon damage, applies Burn that deals 2500 damage every 2.0s for 6.0s.
Crosspathing interactions
  • 5-1-0: Attack cooldown of Super Mine reduced from 3.5s to 2.8s.
  • 5-2-0: Attack cooldown of Super Mine reduced from 2.8s to 1.96s.
  • 5-0-1: Lifespan of Super Mine increased from 50s to 100s, range increased from 34 to 42, blast radius of Mega Explosion increased from 100 to 133. No blast radius increase on Mini Explosion.
  • 5-0-2: At the start of a round, attacks 4x faster (0.875s) for 3s. Gains Close, Far and Smart targeting priorities.

Attack Interactions[]

See also: Attack Interactions/Bloons TD 6/Support
Updated as of Version 40.2
  • Spike Pile:
    • Normal Type (pops Black, White, Purple, Lead, Frozen) Normal
    • Also affects Camo Bloons Camo Detection
    • Single Projectile Single Projectile
    • On-Track (stays onto track until depleted or expired) On Track
    • On-Track Spike (lasts for up to 50s or 1 round, whichever comes first) Spike
    • Lobbed Throw Lobbed Throw
    • Erratic Movement (moves straight in any direction within its range, directed onto any nearby track) Erratic Movement
    • Extra damage to all bloon types (2 → 50) Extra Damage (50)
    • Extra damage versus Ceramics (+30) Extra Damage to Ceramics (+30)
    • Extra damage to Fortified (+15) Extra Damage to Fortified (+15)
  • Mini Explosion:
    • Normal Type (pops Black, White, Purple, Lead, Frozen) Normal
    • Also affects Camo Bloons Camo Detection
    • Burst (bursts from expired or depleted mine) Burst
    • Area of Effect Area of Effect
    • Extra damage to all bloon types (20) Extra Damage (20)
    • Extra damage versus Ceramics (+15) Extra Damage to Ceramics (+15)
    • Extra damage to Fortified (+5) Extra Damage to Fortified (+5)
  • Mega Explosion:
    • Normal Type (pops Black, White, Purple, Lead, Frozen) Normal
    • Also affects Camo Bloons Camo Detection
    • Burst (bursts from expired or depleted mine) Burst
    • Area of Effect Area of Effect
    • Extra damage to all bloon types (1000) Extra Damage (1000)
    • Extra damage to Fortified (+250) Extra Damage to Fortified (+250)
    • Extra damage versus Ceramics (+500) Extra Damage to Ceramics
    • Burn (standard bloons, 2500 damage per 2.0s for 6 Burn
    • Burn (MOAB-Class Bloons, 2500 damage per 2.0s for 6 Burn Blimps

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 (5-X-X) $106,250 $125,000 $135,000 $150,000 -
Total (5-0-0) $118,320 $139,200 $150,340 $167,040 $82,824 $97,440 $105,238 $116,928
Crosspath (5-1-0) $118,830 $139,800 $150,990 $167,760 $83,181 $97,860 $105,693 $117,432
Crosspath (5-2-0) $119,510 $140,600 $151,855 $168,720 $83,657 $98,420 $106,299 $118,104
Crosspath (5-0-1) $118,445 $139,350 $150,500 $167,220 $82,912 $97,545 $105,350 $117,054
Crosspath (5-0-2) $118,785 $139,750 $150,930 $167,700 $83,150 $97,825 $105,651 $117,390

This upgrade's prices (or included crosspath's prices) are affected by the following MK: FirstLineOfDefenseIcon First Last Line of Defense, HiValueMinesIcon Hi-Value Mines, BetterSellDealsIcon Better Sell Deals

Strategy[]

Summary[]

Fitting its hefty price tag, Super Mines is extremely potent at inflicting massive damage to lots of Bloons. Unlike most Spike Factories, Super Mines is best placed in a central position in order to best utilise the huge blast radius and damage of its explosions as well as its strong burn. Explosions created from recently expired mines generate double the damage, dealing even more damage to Bloons caught in the explosion.

With the favorable Even Faster Production crosspath, Super Mines is reasonably decent at soloing most single-path maps up to and surpassing Round 100, but slowdown support such as Bloon Sabotage and MOAB Glue may become necessary on shorter maps. While Super Mines used to be less effective during Rounds 101 to 132 due to the presence of stacked Purples (though purple bloons on rounds 101-132 are fixed outside of Apopalypse and ABR), this weakness has been essentially nullified through the introduction and buffing of mini-explosions as well as a pierce buff to the spikes. Super Mines's strength lasts even into deep Freeplay, with its powerful burn notably shredding even some BADs.

Its primary weaknesses are its large cost, rendering it usually inaccessible outside of Boss Bloon Events and Freeplay, as well as the start of each Round when it is just beginning to build up its spike pile, where DDTs and FDDTs can easily sneak by.

Tips[]

  • This upgrade decreases the production rate of the mines compared to Spiked Mines, so it is recommended to purchase the Faster Production and Even Faster Production upgrades in tandem with it. There is little point purchasing Long Reach or Smart Spikes, as neither the increased explosion radius nor the additional targeting options improve it significantly enough to make them worth purchasing over the middle crosspath, except in certain niche situations.
  • It is preferable to not use this as the primary attacking tower, as it will waste pierce on weaker Bloons. If you do, bring another tower that can thin out the crowds of weaker Bloons (e.g. Flying Fortress) so the Super Mines can concentrate its pierce on Ceramics and MOAB-class Bloons.
  • This upgrade is extremely helpful against damaging MOAB-class bloons immensely, especially if the mines explode after timing out, which doubles the damage of the mines. It is especially helpful on rounds with many clumped MOAB-class bloons like 96, 98, 103, 104, 107, 108, 111, and etc.
  • While the game setting "Auto Start" is turned on, placing a Super Mines at the very front of the track allows any remaining Super Mines to instantly deal massive damage to the first incoming bloons. This is because all mines explode immediately when the round begins, and the expired explosions still count as damage sources.[1]
  • Due to its high damage, it is one of the best sources of MOAB popping power out of all towers. Its stockpiles and burn damage make it even able to crush early Freeplay BADs.
  • Super Mines can easily solo many rounds past Round 100, although it can struggle versus DDTs, especially Fortified DDTs, that may dash past in the downtime in between mines spawning.
  • It is best placed in a central position where the explosions can cover a lot of the map's track, for huge overall popping power.
  • Super Mines is a strong tower against Boss Bloons. It can be used as a decent last line of defense against later tiers if extra cash is available, or it can help stack immense additional damage onto the Boss.
    • In time-based Ranked Modes, Super Mines can be used for quick times against earlier tiers of Vortex, due to the mine explosions penetrating through Vortex's shield. The extreme amount of Ceramic damage that Super Mines can inflict also serves as a powerful force against Dreadbloon's rock layer.
    • In Least Cash Ranked Modes, a highly buffed Super Mines can be used to be the main damage source against any boss except Dreadbloon, although a Super Mines can still provide a large percentage of the total damage to Dreadbloon outside of Support Immunity.
    • In Least Tier Ranked Modes, Super Mines is supplimentary to existing towers to provide immense damage to all Bosses. Versus Dreadbloon, Super Mines helps break down immunity phases of non-Support category Paragons such as Glaive Dominus.

Version History[]

Balance Changes[]

Super Mines was once considered one of the least powerful Tier 5 upgrades in the entire game, especially compared to its massive price, but the addition of numerous buffs to this upgrade have made it much stronger, to the extent that it now has a practical niche at stockpiling immense damage potential. It received an even larger buff in Version 29.0, overhauling it with various damage buffs across the board, and 32.0 finally taking advantage of the damage from the formerly vestigal burn.

6.0
  • BUFF Super Mines attack cooldown decreased by 20% (6.875s → 5.5s)
7.0
  • BUFF Super Mines now damages all bloon types.
  • BUFF Super Mines explosion pierce increased (40 → 60)
10.0
  • BUFF Super Mines base spike damage increased (1 → 10)
11.0
  • BUFF Super Mines attack cooldown decreased by 20% (5.5s → 4.4s)
12.0
  • BUFF Super Mines explosion damage increased (350 → 1000)
20.0
Bigger balance shifts including Super Mines were not feasible for this update, but we did make a meaningful price reduction.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF Super Mines cost decreased ($175,000 → $162,500)
22.0
[...] Spiked Balls strats have also felt too strong compared to higher tiers on top path, so touching on all of these issues slightly the base lifespan of spikes has been reduced, ceramic bonus increased on 4xx, and a new bonus added to 5xx. [...]
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • NERF Base projectile lifespan reduced from 70s to 50s.
  • BUFF Super Mines each spike of each mine now triggers a smaller explosion.
    • Radius: 20
    • Pierce: 10
    • Damage: 10
23.0
  • BUFF Base Super Mines attack speed increased (4.4s → 3.5s)
  • NERF 5-1-0 Super Mines attack speed decreased (2.64s → 2.8s)
  • BUFF 5-2-0 Super Mines attack speed increased (1.98s → 1.96s)
26.0
  • NERF Indirectly nerfed by the Spiked Balls pierce nerf (17 → 14)
28.0
Some minor changes to a few upgrades on Spike Factory evening out some aspects of it.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF Super Mines price reduced from $162,500 → $150,000
  • BUFF Super Mines 'Small Explosion' pierce increased 20 → 30
29.0
Super Mines gets damage - to stand it out in Bosses more.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF Super Mines base spike damage increased from 10 to 50
  • BUFF Super Mines base spike ceramic bonus increased from +6 → +20
  • BUFF Super Mines base spike fortified bonus increased from +1 → +15
  • BUFF Super Mines mini explosion damage increased from 10 to 20
  • BUFF Super Mines mini explosion gains a Ceramic bonus of +10
  • BUFF Super Mines mini explosion gains a Fortified bonus of +5
  • NERF Super Mines large explosion no longer receives +2 damage to Ceramics and MOAB-class
  • BUFF Super Mines large explosion fortified bonus increased from +1 → +250
31.2
  • BUFF [Undocumented]Super Mines mini-explosions no longer deal single-layer damage
32.0
Super Mines DoT damage is entirely insignificant for the price range of this tower.
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF Super Mines napalm DoT damage increased 1 → 500
35.0
[...] and Super Mines price is coming down a little to pull it slightly forward into more challenge viability. We also felt like a massive ceramic bonus on Super Mines could both help it annihilate super ceramics, and give it fun niche uses against ceramics in general for challenges and Bosses. [...]
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF Super Mines small explosion radius increased 20 → 30
  • BUFF Super Mines price reduced $150,000 → $125,000
  • BUFF Super Mines napalm DoT damage increased from 500 → 1000
  • BUFF Super Mines spikes to Ceramic bonus increased from +20 → +30
  • BUFF Super Mines mini explode to Ceramic bonus +10 → +15
  • BUFF Super Mines large explode to Ceramic bonus +0 → +500
36.0
  • NERF Indirectly nerfed by the Spiked Balls pierce nerf (14 → 12)
37.0
We’ve heard the feedback, so Spiked Mines get a tweak to get more mines exploding but with less pierce on each, to overall increase quality of life in more frequent use but less wasted pierce. This will help out with some of the problems it has scaling into late game super ceramics.
~ Ninja Kiwi, referring to Spiked Mines
  • BUFF Super Mines spikes pierce increased 12 → 20
  • BUFF Super Mines napalm DoT damage increased 1000 → 2500
38.0
Further balance for 401 crosspath, while this does already see some niche use it made sense to include increased explosion radius with the larger tower range. [...]
~ Ninja Kiwi
  • BUFF 5-0-1 Super Mines large explosion blast radius increased 100 → 133
40.0
Small spike pierce reduction for the Spiked Mines as it’s finally coming into a strong spot on its own. [...]
~ Ninja Kiwi, referring to Spiked Mines
  • NERF Super Mines spikes pierce reduced (20 → 18)

Gallery[]

Official artwork[]

Super Mine projectiles[]

Other languages[]

Upgrade Name
Language Name Meaning
English Super Mines
German Superminen Super Mines
Upgrade Description
Language Name Meaning
English Creates gigantic exploding spiked mines that can wipe out almost anything.
German Erzeugt gigantisch explodierende Nagelminen, die beinahe alles vernichten. Creates gigantic exploding spiked mines that destroy almost anything.

Trivia[]

  • Super Mines is among the most expensive Tier 5 upgrades in BTD6, surpassed only by the Legend of the Night and the True Sun God upgrades for the Super Monkey.
    • It is also the most expensive tower that is technically able to be purchased on CHIMPS Mode, following the Version 28.0 price buffs.
  • Super Mines was a subject of a number of BTD6 memes between 2018 to 2020, due to its notorious reputation of being weak for its pricetag. Even after numerous buffs, Super Mines has continued being mocked upon by many fans of BTD6, even those who like Super Mines, albeit version 12.0 introduced a buff of giving the explosion nearly three times the damage, and further buffs in 29.0 and beyond served to exponentially increase the power of the tower.
  • The earliest known Super Mines on CHIMPS Mode formerly was Round 146 in Version 22.0, prior to various price decreases applied later on. This was done on Logs CHIMPS with an Ezili + Master Bomber + Shinobi spam strategy.[2]
  • This is one of the few upgrades to have substantial differences between the Instamonkey icon and the in-game appearance; the hatch has a red skull and outline and the furnace inside is off (because no red light comes out of it). The Spike Factory is also narrower on top and has two red tubes on each side instead of just one.
    • This possibly means that it has undergone graphical changes before the game was released.

Balance Changes (Trivia)[]

  • Before Version 32.0, the burn from each mine still dealt 1 damage every 2.0 seconds, despite the immense damage of the explosions.
  • The Version 22.0 buffs granting mini explosions per spike loss was done likely for countering the Super Mine's weakness to the hyperclumped Purples randomly generated between Rounds 101 and 120. Version 25.0 changed the aforementioned rounds to become pre-determined, but the buff is still justifiable on the rounds with large groups of Purples.
  • The Version 23.0 Spike Factory attack speed overhaul has improved Path 3 crosspathing while retaining viability for 5-2-0. So overall, this is a buff to the opposite crosspath. Similar occurs for Perma-Spike, but Perma-Spike didn't get that attack speed rework fixed till a sub-update.
  • Before the Super Mines got buffed to pop Black properties in Version 7.0, Super Mines could still apply burn to Blacks and Zebras hit by the explosion. This likely got changed in Version 6.0 where burn only triggers upon damage, as is the case with the new Mortar Monkey's Burny Stuff.
  • When first released, a raw 5-2-0 Super Mines could not beat a DDT without MIB, nor pop a BAD even when given a full stockpile.[3] With various buffs given to Super Mines over history, it can now solo all rounds on CHIMPS on its own as well as fully solo most blimps below BAD even in Freeplay.
  • Upon the Version 28.0 update reducing upgrade cost down to $150,000 on Medium, the Super Mines upgrade combined with its preceding upgrades could barely fit the maximum amounts of cash obtainable on CHIMPS Mode.
  • Version 35.0 reducing the cost of Super Mines down to $125,000 on Medium allowed for Super Mines to be bought before Round 100 on CHIMPS Mode.

References[]

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