Blade Maelstrom (BTD6): Difference between revisions

'''Blade Maelstrom''' is the [[Tack Shooter (BTD6)|Tack Shooter]]'s path 2 tier 4 [[upgrade]] in ''[[Bloons TD 6]]''. It grants a Blade Maelstrom ability, which causes the Tack Shooter to fire blades with high pierce rapidly in all directions. The main attack can still be used during the ability. Blade Maelstrom and other tier 4 and above Tack Shooters also have slightly elevated lines of sight compared to tier 3 and below Tack Shooters. Additionally, all blades now deal 2 damage instead of 1.

The Blade Maelstrom ability has a cooldown of 20 seconds, with an initial cooldown of 6.67 seconds. When activated, it fires extra-high pierce blades every 0.045 seconds in two opposite directions{{fn|It is treated as a type of spread attack with a 180° angle of separation between projectiles. Buffs like [[Deadeye]]'s Take Aim ability can reduce the angle between blades.}} for 3 seconds, and the angle it shoots blades at rapidly rotates clockwise, creating a spiral pattern. Each blade deals 2 {{BTD6 dt|Shatter}} damage and has 100 [[pierce]]. This attack can be affected by all types of buffs (damage, attack speed, pierce, etc.).

* [[Faster Shooting (BTD6) (Tack Shooter)|Faster Shooting]] — ability gains ~17.6% increased attack speed (0.85x attack cooldown).

* [[Even Faster Shooting (BTD6)|Even Faster Shooting]] — ability gains ~38.4% increased attack speed total (0.85x attack cooldown on top, total of 0.7225x).

* [[More Tacks (BTD6)|More Tacks]] — ability lasts 0.5 seconds longer and spins counter-clockwise instead.

* [[Even More Tacks (BTD6)|Even More Tacks]] — ability lasts 0.5 seconds longer (+1 second overall).

This ability does not prevent Blade Maelstrom from using its main attack simultaneously.

{{BTD6 last updated|56.3|section=y}}

Blade Maelstrom is one of the strongest towers in [[Race Event]]s, due to its extremely high pierce and ability to wipe out extraordinary amounts of Bloons and make large amounts of cash that can be used to purchase other towers. It also excels at wiping out large quantity of spawns from {{BTD6|Bloonarius}}. When using it in Race Events, fullsend immediately after purchasing it, purchase a 0-2-0 {{BTD6|Alchemist}} next to it, and upgrade the Alchemist to a 3-2-0 {{BTD6|Berserker Brew}} immediately after using the ability to allow it to pop {{BTD6|Lead Bloon}}s and greatly boost its popping power. Although the [[Acidic Mixture Dip (BTD6)|Acidic Mixture Dip]] will be used up very quickly, this will likely pop all Lead Bloons on screen and prevent them from blocking the rest of the ability (unless more Leads spawn afterwards).

Outside of Race Events, Blade Maelstrom is useful to wipe out Round 76, Round 78 (with [[Camo Bloon (BTD6)|Camo]] detection), and the 1st and 3rd wave of {{BTD6|Ceramic Bloon}}s on Round 63, but is not very useful on other rounds and becomes significantly weaker after Round 80 due to [[Ceramic Bloon (BTD6)#Super Ceramic Bloons|Super Ceramics]].  

 

2-4-0 and 0-4-2 are on roughly equal footing, the former being preferred for burst damage and the latter for more reliable damage regardless of the game setting, though this difference is not very pronounced unless upgraded to [[Super Maelstrom (BTD6)|Super Maelstrom]]. 2-4-0's ability creates roughly 3.7% more blades in total. The difference in rotation direction from bottom path rarely matters, only the longer duration.