Blade Maelstrom (BTD6)

Blade Maelstrom

Blade Maelstrom ability: Covers the area in a storm of blades.

Tower	Tack Shooter — Path 2 — Tier 4
XP cost	9,000
Cash cost	$2,295 — Easy $2,700 — Medium $2,915 — Hard $3,240 — Impoppable

← Blade Shooter

Super Maelstrom →

Blade Maelstrom is the 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 increased damage and pierce in all directions. 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 the base attack gains +1 damage.

Blade Maelstrom Ability

The Blade Maelstrom ability has a cooldown of 20 seconds, with an initial cooldown of 6.67 seconds. When activated, it fires extra-strong blades in two opposite directions for 3 seconds, and the direction in which it fires rapidly spin clockwise creating a spiral pattern with the blades. Each blade deals 2 Shatter damage, has 100 pierce, and is fired with an attack cooldown of 0.045 seconds. It can be affected with all types of buffs (damage, attack speed, pierce, etc.).

The ability also receives crosspathing benefits:

• Faster Shooting — ability gains ~17.6% increased attack speed (0.85x attack cooldown).
• Even Faster Shooting — ability gains ~38.4% increased attack speed total (0.85x attack cooldown on top, total of 0.7225x).
• More Tacks — ability gains +0.5s duration and spins counter-clockwise.
• Even More Tacks — ability gains +1s duration total.

Stats

For a complete list of Tack Shooter stats, see Stats:Tack Shooter (BTD6).

This data was last updated for: version 55.1

Tower
Display range 46 units Footprint radius 6 units Targeting options Close

Attack
Cooldown 1.12s Offset (X, Y, Z) 0, 0, 11.9 Targeting Depends on targeting option Targeting range 46 units Filters Cannot target Camo
Projectile Count 8 Angle 360° Pierce 8 Damage 2 Damage type Shatter Speed 187.2 units/s Lifespan 0.3419s Radius 4 units Filters Cannot hit Camo

Ability
Cooldown 20s Lifespan 3s
Attack Cooldown 0.045s Offset (X, Y, Z) 0, 0, 11.9 Targeting range ∞ units Rotation speed -360 deg/s Ignores blockers Can fire without a target Projectile Count 2 Angle 180° Pierce 100 Damage 2 Damage type Shatter Speed 150 units/s Lifespan 2s Radius 4 units Filters Cannot hit Camo Ignores blockers

1-4-0

Attack
Cooldown 1.12s → 0.84s

Ability
Attack Cooldown 0.045s → 0.0382s

2-4-0

Attack
Cooldown 0.84s → 0.63s

Ability
Attack Cooldown 0.0382s → 0.0325s

0-4-1

Attack
Projectile Count 8 → 10

Ability
Lifespan 3s → 3.5s
Attack Rotation speed -360 deg/s → 360 deg/s

0-4-2

Attack
Projectile Count 10 → 12

Ability
Lifespan 3.5s → 4s

Costs and sell values

Note: this list does not factor in Monkey Knowledge or other discounts.

Tiers	Total cost				Sell value
	Easy	Medium	Hard	Impoppable	Easy	Medium	Hard	Impoppable
0-4-0	$3,255	$3,835	$4,145	$4,600	$2,279	$2,685	$2,902	$3,220
1-4-0	$3,380	$3,985	$4,305	$4,780	$2,366	$2,790	$3,014	$3,346
2-4-0	$3,635	$4,285	$4,630	$5,140	$2,545	$3,000	$3,241	$3,598
0-4-1	$3,350	$3,945	$4,265	$4,730	$2,345	$2,762	$2,986	$3,311
0-4-2	$3,445	$4,055	$4,385	$4,860	$2,412	$2,839	$3,070	$3,402

Strategy

This section was last updated for: version 49.3

Blade Maelstrom is one of the strongest towers in Race Events, 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. When using it in Race Events, fullsend immediately after purchasing it, purchase a 0-2-0 Alchemist next to it, and upgrade the Alchemist to a 3-2-0 Berserker Brew immediately after using the ability to allow it to pop Lead Bloons and greatly boost its popping power. The same could be done for Bloonarius.

Outside of Race Events, Blade Maelstrom is useful to wipe out Round 76, Round 78 (with Camo detection), and the 1st and 3rd wave of Ceramic Bloons on Round 63, but is not very useful on other rounds and becomes useless after Round 80 due to 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.

Update History

For a complete list of Tack Shooter changes, see Update history:Tack Shooter (BTD6).

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Version 9.0

• Maelstrom projectiles are no longer deleted at the end of the round in Race events

Version 11.0

•  Ability: duration increased ― 2s → 3s

Version 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.
— Update notes

”

•  Ability: Pierce reduced ― ∞ → 100

Version 25.0

“

We liked Maelstrom’s pierce change, however want to ease off a little as higher density rounds feel a lot more position & timing dependent now than they need to be.
— Update notes

”

•  Maelstrom ability: pierce increased ― 100 → 200

Version 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.
— Update notes

”

•  Blade pierce increased ― 6 → 8

Version 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.
— Update notes

”

•  Ability: Pierce reduced ― 200 → 120

1-4-0

•  Ability: Pierce reduced ― 200 → 160
  • Note: 240 unchanged

0-4-1, 0-4-2

•  Ability: Now rotates counter-clockwise with this crosspath

0-4-1

•  Ability: Duration increased ― 3s → 3.5s

0-4-2

•  Ability: Duration increased ― 3s → 4s

Version 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.
— Update notes

”

•  Ability: Pierce increased ― 120 → 200
•  Ability: Attack cooldown increased ― 0.03s → 0.045s (attack speed reduced by 33.33%)
•  Main attack: Damage type changed ― Sharp → Shatter

1-4-0

•  Ability: Faster Shooting no longer increases pierce
  •  Overall pierce is unchanged (due to changes to the base pierce)
•  Ability: Faster Shooting now reduces attack cooldown by 15%
  •  Overall attack cooldown with this crosspath increased ― 0.03s → 0.03825s (due to changes to the base attack cooldown)

2-4-0

•  Ability: Even Faster Shooting no longer increases pierce
  •  Overall pierce is unchanged (due to changes to the base pierce)
•  Ability: Even Faster Shooting now decreases attack cooldown by 15%
  • Reduces overall attack cooldown by 27.75% (due to changes to the previous tier)
  •  Overall attack cooldown with this crosspath increased ― 0.03s → 0.0325125s (due to changes to the base attack cooldown)

Version 43.0

“

Additionally, while we’ve held out on this change as there are strong use cases in prior upgrades, Blade Maelstrom lacks the single target punch to last late in Modern Bloons. While it is designed as a high pierce cleanup of low tier Bloons we want to try shifting some pierce to single target damage to feel good for longer.
— Update notes

”

•  Overall cost reduced by $20 (due to cost changes for previous tiers)
•  Ability blade: Damage increased ― 1 → 2
•  Ability blade: Pierce reduced ― 200 → 100

Version 46.0

“

Blade Shooter has always visually increased the projectile size considerably but not actually changed this value at all, Blades will now actually be bigger.
— Update notes

”

•  Blade Maelstrom ability: Projectile radius increased ― 2 → 4
•  Reload rate reduced ― 1.19s → 1.12s
  • Note: Stacks with top crosspath: 1-X-0 ― 0.8925s → 0.84s. 2-X-0 ― 0.6694s → 0.63s
•  Main attack: Projectile radius increased ― 0 → 4

Version 48.0

“

Range fits well for this path, so we’re working this more into the main attack of middle path
— Update notes

”

•  Acquisition range increased ― 31 → 46
•  Blade: Projectile range increased ― 49.24 → 64

Version 49.0

“

Middle Tack has always been ability heavy, so the base tower damage is improving with higher tiers to get more than just the ability.
— Update notes

”

•  Main blade: Damage increased ― 1 → 2

Gallery

For more Tack Shooter images, see Gallery:Tack Shooter.

Screenshots

• 
  Activation of the 040 ability
• 
  Activation of the 140 ability
• 
  Activation of the 240 ability
• 
  Activation of the 041 ability
• 
  Activation of the 042 ability

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Assets

• 
  Portrait
• 
  Upgrade icon
• 
  Ability icon
• 
  Insta Monkey icon

In other languages

Language	Name / Description	Notes
Arabic	دوامة الشفرات القدرة على عمل دوامة من الشفرات: تغطية المنطقة في عاصفة من الشفرات.	—
Danish	Klingemalstrøm Klingemalstrøm-evne: dækker området med en storm af klinger.	—
German	Klingeninferno Klingeninferno-Fähigkeit: Fähigkeit: Bedeckt die ganze Strecke mit einem Klingenteppich.	—
Spanish	Vorágine de cuchillas Habilidad vorágine de cuchillas: cubre el área con una tormenta de cuchillas.	—
Spanish (LA)	Vorágine de cuchillas Habilidad vorágine de cuchillas: cubre el área con una tormenta de cuchillas.	—
Finnish	Terämyrsky Terämyrsky-kyky: peittää alueen terämyrskyllä.	—
French	Maelström de lames Aptitude Maelström de lames : fait pleuvoir une tempête de lames sur la zone.	—
Italian	Vortice di lame Abilità Vortice di lame: ricopre l'area coinvolta con una tempesta di lame.	—
Japanese	ブレード大混乱 ブレード大混乱能力：地域をブレードの嵐で覆う。	—
Korean	칼날 소용돌이 칼날 소용돌이 능력: 영역에 칼날의 폭풍이 휘몰아칩니다.	—
Dutch	Messenkolk Messenkolk-vaardigheid: bedekt het gebied in een storm van messen.	—
Norwegian	Bladmalstrøm Klingemalstrøm-evne: dekker området med en storm av klinger.	—
Polish	Wir ostrzy Umiejętność wiru ostrzy: pokrywa obszar burzą ostrzy.	—
Portuguese (Brazil)	Tempestade de Lâminas Habilidade Tempestade de Lâminas: Cobre a área numa tempestade de lâminas.	—
Russian	Водоворот клинков Способность «Водоворот клинков» накрывает зону вихрем клинков.	—
Swedish	Rakbladmalström Bladmalströmförmåga: Täcker området med en storm av blad.	—
Thai	พายุใบเลื่อย สกิลพายุใบเลื่อย: ยิงใบเลื่อยจำนวนมากออกไปเหมือนพายุหมุนครอบคลุมทั้งจอ	—
Turkish	Bıçak Girdabı Bıçak Girdabı yeteneği: Bıçak fırtınasıyla alanı korur.	—
Chinese (simplified)	利刃漩涡 利刃漩涡技能：对目标区域发起利刃风暴。	—
Chinese (traditional)	刀刃漩渦 刀刃漩渦技能：刀刃風暴覆蓋整個區域。	—
This list was last updated for: version 43.1