Spike Storm (BTD6)

For other uses, see Spike Storm (disambiguation).

Spike Storm

Spike Storm ability: Shoots out a thick layer of spikes over the entire track.

Tower	Spike Factory — Path 2 — Tier 4
XP cost	11,000
Cash cost	$5,950 — Easy $7,000 — Medium $7,560 — Hard $8,400 — Impoppable

← MOAB SHREDR

Carpet of Spikes →

Spike Storm is the Spike Factory's path 2 tier 4 upgrade in Bloons TD 6. This upgrade grants the Spike Storm ability, and does not change the Spike Factory's main attack. When the ability is activated, spike piles are scattered over all available lanes, launching clusters of 4 spike piles every 0.04 seconds for 2 seconds, resulting in up to 204 spike piles per ability (208 on every 4th use). This attack has a minimum cooldown equal to its base cooldown, meaning it does not benefit from any attack speed buffs unless its attack speed is being reduced by something like a Jar of Pickles. Storm spikes are distributed randomly across available lanes (based on the amount of track area; longer lanes and overlapping areas will get a proportionately larger share of the spikes) and they last 9–11 seconds. Each group of 4 simultaneous spike pile launches is considered 4 separate attacks rather than 1, limiting the uptime of buffs that use a shot counter (e.g. Berserker Brew). The ability has a cooldown of 50 seconds.

Crosspaths affect the Spike Storm ability. Storm spikes gain +5 pierce in the same way as the main spikes when given Bigger Stacks, and change from Sharp to Normal damage type if given White Hot Spikes. With Long Reach, storm spikes last +100% longer (18–22 seconds), and with Smart Spikes the ability will only send spikes to the active lanes of the current round.

Stats

For a complete list of Spike Factory stats, see Stats:Spike Factory (BTD6).

This data was last updated for: version 55.1

Tower
Display range 34 units Footprint radius 8 units Targeting options Normal

Attack
Cooldown 1.05s Offset (X, Y, Z) 0, 0, 15.46 Targeting Depends on targeting option Targeting range 34 units Filters Cannot target Camo
Ignores blockers
Projectile Pierce 5 Damage 1 Damage to MOAB-Class +7 Damage type Sharp Lifespan 50s Radius 6 units Rehit interval 0.001s Ignores blockers

Ability
Cooldown 50s Lifespan 2s
Attack Copies of this attack 4 Cooldown 0.04s Min. cooldown 0.04s Offset (X, Y, Z) 0, 0, 0 Targeting Normal (track) Targeting range ∞ units Ignores blockers Can fire between rounds Projectile Pierce 5 Damage 1 Damage to MOAB-Class +7 Damage type Sharp Lifespan 9s–11s Persists between rounds 1 Radius 6 units Rehit interval 0.001s Ignores blockers

1-4-0

Attack
Offset (X, Y, Z) 0, 0, 15.46 ↓ 0, 0, 19.11
Projectile Pierce 5 → 10

Ability
Attack Projectile Pierce 5 → 10

2-4-0

Attack
Projectile Damage type Sharp → Normal

Ability
Attack Projectile Damage type Sharp → Normal

0-4-1

Tower
Display range 34 units → 42 units

Attack
Targeting range 34 units → 42 units
Projectile Lifespan 50s → 100s

Ability
Attack Projectile Lifespan 9s–11s → 18s–22s

0-4-2

Tower
Targeting options Close Smart Automatic Set Target

Start-of-round buff
Cooldown modifier ×0.25 Lifespan 3s

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	$10,115	$11,900	$12,855	$14,280	$7,081	$8,330	$8,999	$9,996
1-4-0	$10,795	$12,700	$13,720	$15,240	$7,557	$8,890	$9,604	$10,668
2-4-0	$11,305	$13,300	$14,370	$15,960	$7,914	$9,310	$10,059	$11,172
0-4-1	$10,245	$12,050	$13,015	$14,460	$7,172	$8,435	$9,111	$10,122
0-4-2	$10,585	$12,450	$13,445	$14,940	$7,410	$8,715	$9,412	$10,458

Strategy

This section was last updated for: version 51.2

Spike Storm's ability is best used for MOAB-class damage, taking advantage of MOAB SHREDR's extra MOAB-class damage and creating a burst of damage. Because of this, Spike Storm is often used for defending against DDTs, BADs, and Boss Bloons, and not against ordinary Bloons. Versus Bosses, it stands out in Timed Bosses against all except Vortex, and tends to be paired with Geraldo's Rejuv Potions to chain up to 3 abilities per tower, plus Lord of the Abyss for maximum pierce. In terms of its damage output, Spike Storm's ability tends to favour maps with minimal track coverage, which allows the spikes to concentrate in a specific region. Ideally, a map such as Blons would be a perfect scenario.

In CHIMPS, Spike Storm is often used for Round 100 BAD damage, as an alternative to First Strike Capability on shorter maps or maps without water, for a similar cost. Like the First Strike, it's preferred to have it ready before Round 100 begins. When buffing it for extra DPS for that round, consistent pierce buffs such as Striker Jones (level 8+), Abyss Dweller or Abyssal Warrior, or Geraldo's Sharpening Stone (without 2-4-0 crosspath) are recommended. Avoid Alchemist without Permanent Brew, as the buffs are less than 25% effective (only affecting up to ~50 out of 200 spike piles).

Both top and bottom crosspaths have use cases. 1-4-0 and 2-4-0 crosspaths are preferred in most cases due to essentially doubling its pierce and offering innate DDT popping. However, the 0-4-2 crosspath has a niche on alternating lane maps, preventing storm spikes from landing on inactive lanes, with the slight benefit of extra lifespan.

Update history

For a complete list of Spike Factory changes, see Update history:Spike Factory (BTD6).

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Version 4.0

•  Upgrade cost reduced ― $6,500 → $6,000 (undocumented)

Version 7.0

•  Upgrade cost reduced ― $6,000 → $5,000
  •  Overall cost reduced by $1,500 (due to cost changes for previous tiers)

Version 8.0

•  Damage to MOAB-Class increased ― +3 → +4

Version 11.0

•  Ability: Damage to MOAB-Class per spike increased ― +3 → +4 (bug fix)

Version 21.0

“

[W]e made a couple small tweaks buffing what should be the ‘strength areas’ of a few of the more underperforming high tier Spike upgrades.
— Update notes

”

0-4-1, 0-4-2

•  Ability: Projectile lifespan with Long Reach increased ― 9s–11s → 15s–16.5s (50% longer)

Version 22.0

“

We quite liked how the lifespan changes for xx1 spikes went previously, though this still wasn’t enough to make the path competitive and increasing this number further wouldn’t have much of an impact since most earlier rounds aren’t long enough. 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 [...] We have also made changes to give more purpose to 042 Spike Storm and allowed x5x Carpet of Spikes to save its cooldown so it is no longer required to avoid saving to be used in reliable strategies.
— Update notes

”

•  Base projectile lifespan reduced ― 70s → 50s
  • Note: Long Reach lifespan remains at 100s

0-4-2

•  Smart Spikes now causes the ability to only target active paths (e.g. Bloody Puddles)

Version 23.0

“

Like a few other towers before it, the attack speed crosspath for Spike Factory has outshined the others. We have reworked the lower Spike Factory tiers to distribute this power more evenly while keeping high tier factories at a similar level of power.
— Update notes

”

•  Rate increased ― 0.99s → 0.98s

Version 24.0

0-4-2

•  Now correctly works on splitting tracks (bug fix)

Version 27.0

“

Due to a number of performance concerns, the ability for the Spike Storm factory will no longer be able to benefit from a denser storm of spikes via stacking speed buffs on the base tower.
— Update notes

”

•  Ability: No longer is affected by rate buffs
  • Note: Overclock rate buff does affect Spike Storm ability with Call To Arms or Homeland Defense. Other rate buffs may also work but need to be tested.

Version 29.0

“

While we feel speed interactions for Spike Storm was a necessary evil for performance related concerns, we did not want to kill off self synergy contained local to the tower, so we are trying out an exception to this rule for the 042 crosspath. Additionally, due to the large annoyance in using spike storm in bosses due to the persistent rounds a boss will last for, Spike Storm will now be allowed to carry over one round before being cleaned up.
— Update notes

”

•  Ability: Spikes now carry over one round

0-4-2

•  Ability: Now benefits from Smart Spikes' speed buff

Version 32.2

0-4-2

•  Smart Spikes start of round buff no longer applies to Spike Storm (undocumented)

Version 39.0

“

The mid spike factory by many players has been ignored outside of few very specific situations for a long time and after fixing some issues, mainly a bug with the shotgunning of projectiles as they spawn, we’re trying a large power increase to more effectively balance the Shredder for its MOAB Damage purpose.
— Update notes

”

•  Ability attack: Bonus damage to MOAB-class increased ― +4 → +9
•  Main attack: Bonus damage to MOAB-class increased ― +4 → +9
•  Spike Factory no longer can shotgun spikes for exactly one frame after spawning (bug fix)

Version 40.0

“

Similar to Mortar it’s great to see the fresh love for middle path Spike Factory, however as they are feeling exceptionally good now for the intended pure MOAB damage role we want to cut it back very slightly so it doesn’t stay quite so crazy over our holiday break.
— Update notes

”

•  Damage to MOAB-class per spike reduced ― +9 → +8

Version 41.0

“

Middle spactory buffs were a fair amount overdone, cutting back more on this.
— Update notes

”

•  Ability: Cooldown increased ― 40s → 45s
•  Damage to MOAB-class reduced ― +8 → +7

Version 43.0

“

Spike Storm is now exceptionally strong so the ability cooldown is increasing a small amount along with the T5 cost. This comes along with a crosspath rebalance granting more 042 lifespan.
— Update notes

”

•  Ability: Cooldown increased ― 45s → 50s
•  Ability: Minimum spike pile lifespan reduced ― 10s → 9s

0-4-1, 0-4-2

•  Ability: Long Reach increases the lifespan of spike piles further ― +50% → +100%
  • With X-4-X crosspath: 15s–16.5s → 18s–22s (due to this change stacking with a nerf to the non-crosspathed lifespan)
  • With X-5-X crosspath: 27s–33s → 36s–44s

Version 44.0

“

As Spike Storm stands out even moreso than the other paths it is the only one seeing an additional price increase ontop of this.
— Update notes

”

“

Spike Factory is currently overperforming on every path, and as it also happens to have one very dominant crosspath choice we’ve opted to nerf that crosspath as an overall nerf to every path.
— Update notes

”

•  Upgrade cost increased ― $5,000 → $6,000
•  Cooldown increased ― 0.98s → 1.05s
  • Note: Does not affect X5X (remains 0.49s attack cooldown)

Version 46.0

“

While this won’t change the effective DPS of spike storm at all, the ability will now occur over a slightly longer duration to reduce the effective ‘instapop’ on many targets and give more time to see what’s going on.
— Update notes

”

•  Ability: Duration increased ― 1s → 2s
•  Ability: Minimum attack cooldown increased ― 0.02s → 0.04s
•  Ability: Attack cooldown increased ― 0.02s → 0.04s (attack speed reduced by 50%)

Version 48.0

“

Spike Storm’s price is being increased with Carpet of Spikes remaining the same total cost, [...]
— Update notes

”

•  Upgrade cost increased ― $6,000 → $7,000

Gallery

For more Spike Factory images, see Gallery:Spike Factory.

Screenshots

• 
  Spike Storm with no crosspath
• 
  Spike Storm with 140 crosspath
• 
  Spike Storm with 240 crosspath
• 
  Spike Storm with 041 crosspath
• 
  Spike Storm with 042 crosspath
• 
  Spike Storm activated ability for all crosspaths except 042
• 
  Spike Storm activated ability for 042 crosspath, targeting only the active lane

Assets

• 
  Portrait
• 
  Upgrade icon
• 
  Insta Monkey icon

In other languages

Language	Name / Description	Notes
Arabic	عاصفة أشواك/مسامير قدرة عاصفة النتوءات: إطلاق طبقة سميكة من السنون والنتوءات فوق المسار بأكمله.	—
Danish	Sømstorm Sømstorm-evne: udspyr et tykt lag søm over hele vejen.	—
German	Nagelsturm Nagelsturm-Fähigkeit: Verteilt eine dicke Schicht Nägel über die gesamte Strecke.	—
Spanish	Tormenta de clavos Habilidad Tormenta de clavos: dispara una capa gruesa de clavos en toda la pista.	—
Spanish (LA)	Tormenta de clavos Habilidad Tormenta de clavos: dispara una capa gruesa de clavos en toda la pista.	—
Finnish	Piikkimyrsky Piikkimyrsky-kyky: ampuu paksun piikkimaton koko reitille.	—
French	Tempête de pointes Aptitude Tempête de pointes : projette une couche épaisse de pointes sur tout le circuit.	—
Italian	Tempesta di aculei Abilità Tempesta di aculei: cosparge l'intero tracciato di uno spesso strato di aculei.	—
Japanese	スパイク嵐 スパイク嵐の能力：トラック全体に厚い層のスパイクを発射する。	—
Korean	스파이크 스톰 스파이크 폭풍 능력: 트랙 전체를 덮을 정도의 스파이크를 발사합니다.	—
Dutch	Stekelstorm Stekelstorm-vaardigheid: schiet een dikke laag stekels over het hele pad.	—
Norwegian	Spikerstorm Spikerstorm-evne: skyter et tykt lag med spiker over hele banen.	—
Polish	Kolczasta burza Umiejętność burza kolców: pokrywa grubą warstwą kolców całą ścieżkę.	—
Portuguese (Brazil)	Tempestade de Espinhos Habilidade Tempestade de Espinhos: Dispara uma grossa camada de espinhos sobre toda a pista.	—
Russian	Шиповой шторм Шипошторм: покрывает всю трассу толстым слоем шипов.	—
Swedish	Spikstorm Spikstormförmåga: Skjuter ut ett tjockt lager spikar över hela banan.	—
Thai	พายุตะปู สกิลพายุตะปู: ยิงตะปูชั้นหนาออกมาปกคลุมทั่วเส้นทาง	—
Turkish	Diken Fırtınası Çivi Fırtınası yeteneği: Tüm parkura kalın bir çivi katmanı fırlatır.	—
Chinese (simplified)	刺钉风暴 刺钉风暴技能：在整条路径上射出层层尖刺。	—
Chinese (traditional)	針刺風暴 針刺風暴技能：在整條路徑上射出一層厚厚的針刺。	—
This list was last updated for: version 43.1