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Traps are randomly generated mechanisms that cause harm to players, and to a lesser extent, enemies. Generated underground, they can catch many players off guard, which generally leads to a swift death. Traps are often exploited due to their damaging abilities for their use in arenas, killing the enemy even faster than the player.
All traps are illuminated by the Dangersense buff, allowing the player to avoid them, and also collect them if in need of them.
Reusable Traps
Reusable traps are traps which, when powered, shoot something which deals damage to the player and most enemies. They can be powered over and over, with 3 seconds delay.
Dart Traps
Dart traps, when found naturally, are always wired to a pressure plate in their line of sight. The pressure plate can sometimes be very far away from the dart trap. The trap may be at foot level, chest level, or head level, but will always hit you if you stand still on the pressure plate. When activated, they shoot a poisoned wooden arrow.
The dart trap is the most commonly encountered trap, found throughout the Underground and Cavern layers. Many can also be found in the Dungeon.
Super Dart Traps
Super dart traps function almost exactly like the generic dart trap listed above, but do a lot more damage. They are found in the Lihzahrd Temple, alongside the three traps mentioned below.
Spiky Ball Traps
Spiky ball traps drop a single spiky ball which will persist for a long time before despawning. The projectile's prolonged lifetime allows it to do significant damage to anything in its path.
Spear Traps
Spear Traps will thrust a long spear from the ceiling, impaling anything below them.
Flame Traps
One of the rarer traps in the game, flame traps are found on the Lihzard temple wall and fire flames similar to the Flamethrower, that extend 23 blocks with 1 block above and below, and deal damage over time.
Single use
Single use traps can only be used once before they cease to function, and require player intervention to reset. They are found in the Underground's caverns.
Boulder Traps
The boulder trap features a simple setup of a pressure plate wired to a 2x6 arrangement of Active Stone Blocks, with a boulder resting on top. When the plate is triggered, the active stone becomes inactive and an unsuspecting player below is crushed into a bloody mess.
These traps can generate in the Underground Jungle, however are easily spotted due to the lack of stone in said area. Similarly, they can be found in caves converted into the Underground Corruption/Crimson/Hallow, where the inactive stone will stick out like a sore thumb.
Two Dart traps and one boulder trap intersecting each other.
Explosive Traps
Explosive traps are wired up to a load of explosives which, when powered, will blast a gaping pit in the terrain. Players that stumble upon them may get quite a surprise. Explosive Traps can be rather problematic because of the massive damage they cause to the environment, potentially causing floods of nearby fluids.
These traps are very rare compared to others. Note that unlike in caves, in the Dungeon these traps will deal little to no environmental damage, and thus players' inventories are not in danger.
Contact traps
Unlike other traps, contact traps only hurt players; monsters remain unaffected. As the label implies, they will deal damage when a player touches them.
Spikes
Spikes are found in the Dungeon in plentiful amounts.
Wooden Spikes
Wooden spikes are similar to their metal counterparts, except that they are found in the Lihzahrd Temple and inflict much more damage.
Tips
- You can see the wiring of a trap while holding a Trap, Pressure Plate, Wrench, Wire Cutter, Wires, or anything wireable (except torches, statues and doors).
- You may want to use a pressure plate to see the wiring, after removing the pressure plate with a Pickaxe. This can be very useful in the beginning of the game for avoiding traps, as they are extremely lethal early on.
- Randomly generated traps are a very cost-effective method of acquiring Wire once you have a Wire Cutter, saving you 5 for every bit of wire collected instead of bought from the Mechanic. This can also be profitable if you're low on cash, as they sell for 1 each.
- Wires of different traps may intersect, giving multiple traps with multiple activation points. This is not uncommon.
History
- 1.2.0.3: Traps no longer trigger Spectre Armor.
- 1.2: Traps created upon world generation can no longer be triggered by mobs (they use different Pressure Plates).
- 1.1: Introduced.
