Traps

Traps are placed items that cause harm to players and enemies. Most are mechanisms that are naturally generated underground and below. When found initially, they are wired to triggers, such as Pressure Plates, intended to harm players who inadvertently activate them. Traps can be collected by players and utilized in arenas, and are usually essential to battling the Pumpkin Moon and Frost Moon events in singleplayer.

The Spike and Wooden Spike are exceptions, as they are not mechanisms, but static placed items that simply cause damage on contact. The Land Mine is a trap-like item, though never generates naturally, and is instead purchasable during Hardmode.

All traps, including their triggers, are illuminated by the Dangersense buff, allowing the player to avoid and collect them. Their wiring can also be seen if one holds a mechanism-related item, although they may be difficult to see with no light.

Reusable Traps
Reusable traps generally fire sharp projectiles. They can be activated limitlessly with a 3-second delay.

Dart Trap.png Dart Traps
Dart Traps fire a poisoned dart which resembles a Wooden Arrow when activated. When found naturally, they are always wired to Pressure Plates in their line of sight. The Pressure Plate can sometimes be very far away from the Dart Trap.

Dart Traps are the most commonly encountered trap, found throughout the Underground and Cavern layers, being the only variety not found in the Jungle Temple. Many can also be found in the Dungeon.

Statue Traps
Added in 1.3, these traps consist of spawn statues, such as skeleton statues, wired to a red or green pressure plate. A monster spawns if a player steps on it and if the plate is in the monster's way, each monster may spawn a new one, resulting in swarms of enemies, spawning until there are no more monsters to be spawned.

Super Dart Trap.png Super Dart Traps
Super Dart Traps function like ordinary Dart Traps, but do significantly more damage. They shoot what appears to resemble a Poison Dart as opposed to an arrow. They are found in the Jungle Temple.

Spiky Ball Trap.png Spiky Ball Traps
Spiky Ball Traps drop a single spiky ball that bounces and persists for a long time before despawning. The projectile's prolonged lifetime allows it to do significant damage to anything in its path, which comes in handy for terrain often traversed by enemies. Spiky Ball Traps are found in the Jungle Temple, and appear to be the most common of them all.

Spear Trap.png Spear Traps
Spear Traps deploy a long spear down from the block. They have a a shorter activation period than other traps. They are found in the Jungle Temple.

Flame Trap.png Flame Traps
Flame Traps fire flames, similar to those of the Flamethrower, that extend 23 blocks with 1 block above and below, and inflict the On Fire! debuff. They are found in the Jungle Temple, but are much more rare than other trap types, often not spawning within a world at all.

Spike.pngWooden Spike.png Spikes
Spikes and Wooden Spikes are not mechanisms, instead dealing damage on contact with a player. They are found commonly in the Dungeon and Jungle Temple, respectively.

Single-use
Single-use traps can only be used once, and require player intervention to reset. They can be found in the Cavern and Underground.

Boulder.png Boulder Traps
Boulder traps features a Pressure Plate wired to a 2x3 arrangement of Active Stone Blocks above it, with a Boulder resting on top. When the Plate is triggered, the stone blocks become inactive and the Boulder drops on the area below.

Explosives.png Explosive Traps
Explosive traps are Pressure Plates wired to Explosives that blast a gaping pit in the terrain and inflict extreme damage on characters. Early to mid-game players caught in these traps are often killed instantly. Explosive traps are much rarer than most trap types.

Land Mine.png Land Mine
The Land Mine is a placed Hardmode item that explodes on contact with a character, or when activated via wire. These do not generate naturally, and are rather purchased.

Tips

 * Trap wiring displays on-screen while the player is holding any mechanism, including a trap block itself.
 * Randomly generated traps are a very cost-effective method of acquiring Wire once you have a Wire Cutter, saving you for every bit of wire collected (as opposed to purchasing Wire from the Mechanic).
 * When placed effectively, Traps can be useful in events.
 * When multiple traps are naturally generated close to each other, their wiring may intersect. This leads to multiple traps with multiple triggers.