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 events like the Pumpkin Moon and Frost Moon.
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 the player holds a mechanism-related item in their hand, for instance a pressure plate. The player can also see wires even in darkness if they have a Mechanical Lens(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) or Grand Design(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) in their inventory.
All damaging traps (except the Land Mine) can only deal 50% base damage to enemies from the Old One's Army(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) event.[1]
Reusable Traps
Reusable traps generally fire sharp projectiles. They can be activated infinitely with a few seconds delay.
Statue Traps
These traps consist of enemy statues wired to a Red or Green Pressure Plate. Because these kinds of pressure plates can be triggered by enemies, it is possible for enemies spawned from the statue to trigger the trap again, spawning additional enemies until the statue spawn limit is reached. The included statue can be a Slime Statue, Bat Statue, Skeleton Statue or Crab Statue.[2]
On rare occasions, naturally generated statues can overlap with wires from other traps, incidentally forming a statue trap.
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, and are the only variety not found in the Jungle Temple. Many can also be found in the Dungeon.
Geysers
Geysers spew fire that knocks back the player when touched. The fire they emit can pass through several blocks and still hit the player. They are found deep underground, usually near lava sources.
They will activate when the player steps on them, or when triggered by wires. Naturally spawned Geysers are exposed and do not have any mechanisms attached.
Super Dart Traps
Super Dart Traps function like ordinary Dart Traps, but do almost double the damage. They shoot what appears to resemble a Poison Dart, as opposed to an arrow. They are only found in the Jungle Temple, and are the second most common trap found there. On the Desktop version, Console version, and Mobile version, mining them requires a Picksaw or better pickaxe.
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 may be useful for terrain often traversed by enemies. Spiky Ball Traps are found in the Jungle Temple only, and are the most common trap there. On the Desktop version, Console version, and Mobile version, mining them requires a Picksaw or better pickaxe.
Spear Traps
Spear Traps deploy a long spear down from the block, which can reach surprisingly far lengths if not obstructed. They have a shorter activation period than other traps. They are found in the Jungle Temple only, and are the second most rare trap there (only succeeded by Flame Traps). On the Desktop version, Console version, and Mobile version, mining them requires a Picksaw or better pickaxe.
Flame Traps
Flame Traps act like horizontal Geysers, and spew flames similar to those of the Flamethrower. The flames extend 20 blocks horizontally, and 3 blocks vertically. They are found in the Jungle Temple only, and are the rarest traps there. Often, they do not even spawn in a world at all. On the Desktop version, Console version, and Mobile version, mining them requires a Picksaw or better pickaxe.
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.
Structures
Structures are traps which consist of ordinary Blocks that are arranged in a specific way to kill the Player.
Boulder traps
Boulder traps feature a Pressure Plate wired to a 2×3 arrangement of Active Stone Blocks above it, with a Boulder resting on top. (Note that boulder traps which are a part of a Dead Man's Chest setup use blocks with Actuators instead of active stone blocks.) When the Pressure Plate is triggered, the blocks become inactive and the Boulder drops on the area below. They are dangerous in dark areas as players will not be able to see the Boulder or the pressure plate. They affect all entities, so when used properly can be used to defeat enemies and bosses.
(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) In Celebrationmk10, No traps, and Get fixed boi worlds, there is a variant of this trap which replaces the Boulder with a 
Bouncy Boulder.
Explosive Traps
Explosive traps come in two varieties, but are based around the same means of killing the player. The more common variant, found only in Desktop, Console, and Mobile versions, is a Detonator wired to a nearby Explosives block, usually sitting atop a large ore vein. A rarer variant is a less visible Pressure Plate, usually buried nearby. In either case, the triggering device sits within the explosive radius of the block, causing the player to be caught in the explosion though it is possible to activate the Detonator without being caught in the blast radius. There is no forewarning to this explosion, and Explosives deal upwards of 500 damage to entities caught in the blast, making undiscovered Explosives Traps extremely dangerous well into Hardmode. It is also possible to find dummy variations of this trap, where the detonator or pressure plate and large ore vein are present, but not the explosives, or the triggering mechanism is not properly wired to the explosives.
Sand Traps
Sand traps consist of a rectangular chunk of sand above a row hardened sand or sandstone blocks with actuators. They are triggered by a pressure plate below and drop the sand onto a player, which then deals suffocation damage.
- With The Grand Design or Wire Cutters, these traps can be an excellent source of Actuators, as there are often 10 or more holding the patch of sand up.
Lava Traps
Lava traps are similar to Boulder traps, having a Pressure Plate wired to a thin column of blocks with Actuators above it, and a pond of lava resting on top. When the Plate is triggered, the blocks become inactive and the lava pours on the area below. These are found in the Cavern Layer and the Dungeon.
- This trap can be easily avoided, as Lava does not move very fast.
- With The Grand Design, these traps can be an excellent source of free Actuators and Wire, as they can be looted from anywhere on the screen without having to be close enough to dig into the lava, and they are quite plentiful. Wire Cutters can also be used, but to loot the Actuators and Wire, one must be much closer to the lava.
Pressure Plate Track Traps
Pressure Plate Track Traps are generated when a normal trap intersects with an Abandoned Minecart Track, replacing the regular Pressure Plate with a Pressure Plate Track.
Spike Pits
Spike Pits can be found throughout the Dungeon, and consist of a thick row of Cracked Dungeon Bricks above a large rectangular pit. Surrounding the pit on all sides are spikes, which can quickly deal large amounts of damage. Some of these pits are filled with water, which can make them even more deadly at first, but can later be used for Fishing.
Dead Man's Chests
Dead Man's Chests are naturally-generating Gold Chests that are rigged with various traps in order to kill the player upon opening the chest. The setup usually includes 3-5 Boulder traps, 2-5 Dart Traps, and 0-3 Explosives. It can even have a Geyser or two if located deep enough. The Boulder traps are set up above the chest, the Dart Traps are placed to the sides, and the Explosives are hidden underneath. The Dead Man's Chest works identically to the standard Trapped Chests, where once the ⚒ Use / Attack is pressed on it, it will send a signal to any wiring connected.
Gas Traps
Gas Traps are only naturally generated in chests in No traps and Get fixed boi worlds. After being placed in a storage item, the Gas Trap will activate the next time that storage item is opened, inflicting all players, enemies, and NPCs nearby with a long duration of the Poisoned debuff.
TNT Barrels
TNT Barrels are only naturally generated in No traps and Get fixed boi worlds. They are found in particularly large numbers in the Jungle Temple. TNT Barrels are not connected to wire or pressure plates, and instead explode when struck.
Life Crystal Boulders
Life Crystal Boulders are only naturally generated in No traps and Get fixed boi worlds. They appear the same as ordinary Life Crystals, but will start rolling and deal damage like Boulders when struck. They will drop a Life Crystal when they stop rolling.
Gallery
A Boulder trap.
Both kinds of Explosive traps.
A Sand trap.
A Lava Trap.
Pressure Plate Track traps.
A Dead Man's Chest and its surrounding traps.
Dangerous ambient objects
While only loosely defined as traps, these generate naturally and are intended to inflict damage upon the player as any other trap.
Thorny Bushes
These grow naturally in the Corruption, Crimson and Underground Jungle respectively. Touching them will damage the player and destroy the block.
Bee Hives
Bee Hives grow naturally under Jungle grass ceilings in the Jungle and Underground Jungle. When struck they will fall to the ground and roll to either side. When they run up against a block, they will break and release Bees that will attack the closest player. However, if they fall into any liquid before they break, they will not release bees and will disappear harmlessly.
Antlion Eggs
Antlion Eggs are objects commonly found in the Underground Desert. They are completely harmless when untouched. After they are hit by any tool, weapon, or projectile, they will hatch into Antlion Larvas. On the Desktop, Console, and Mobile version, Antlion Eggs can grow naturally on Sandstone Blocks below Surface layer.
Rolling Cactus
Rolling Cacti are plants commonly found in the Underground Desert. When static, they only deal a small amount of damage to players that make direct contact with them. Similarly to boulders, they will start rolling in either direction after being hit by any tool, weapon, or projectile. When rolling, they deal large amounts of damage and can bounce off walls. They affect all entities, so if used properly, they can be used to defeat large waves of enemies and even bosses.
Man-made
These traps never generate naturally, and must be placed in the world by a player.
Venom Dart Traps
Venom Dart Traps function like ordinary Dart Traps, but deal increased damage and inflict Acid Venom instead of Poisoned.
They are crafted from a regular Dart Trap and two Spider Fangs.
Land Mine
The Land Mine is a placed Hardmode item that explodes on contact with an entity, or when activated via wire. They can be purchased from the Demolitionist for 5 GC each.
Trapped Chests
Trapped Chests are man-made chests that sends out a signal when opened. They do not have storage slots, and therefore cannot hold any items. They can be crafted with any type of regular chest and 10 wires.
Achievement
Explorer
ChallengerTechnical info
The Watch Your Step! achievement can be obtained by the following ways:[3]
- Being killed by an applicable projectile.
- The projectile does not necessarily have to be coming from naturally generated trap structures. For example, player-placed Boulders can also grant the achievement.
- Being killed when having Poisoned and/or On Fire! debuff, after surviving from the damage of any applicable projectile.[4]
- The debuff does not necessarily have to be inflicted by applicable projectiles, nor does the death have to be caused by the debuff. However, if the debuff comes from other sources, it has to be inflicted on the player before taking damage from applicable projectiles for the achievement to be granted.
- The condition for obtaining the achievement refreshes after the debuff expires, so if the player survives from both projectile damage and debuff damage, they will have to be hit by an applicable projectile again to get the achievement.
- For example, get On Fire! debuff by touching lava, then get hit by the Spear Trap's spear, and getting killed (can be caused by anything, such as touching Spikes or taking damage from enemies) before the debuff expires will obtain the achievement.
The achievement cannot be obtained by the following ways:
- Being killed by other projectiles or traps (including other "traps" listed on this page).
- For example, being killed by lava from a lava trap or damage from Suffocation inflicted by Sand Blocks from a sand trap will not grant the achievement.
- Being killed by Acid Venom from the Venom Dart Trap without having Poisoned and/or On Fire! debuff.
- Being killed when having Poisoned and/or On Fire! debuff, but was not hit by applicable projectiles.
Below is a list of applicable projectiles.
| ID | Projectile | Source | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 98 |  | Poison Dart |  Dart Trap | Getting killed by the Poisoned debuff inflicted by it also grants the achievement. |
| 99 |  | Boulder |  Boulder Rock Golem(For the worthy / Get fixed boi) | |
| 108 |  | Explosives | Explosives | |
| 184 |  | Poison Dart |  Super Dart Trap | Getting killed by the Poisoned debuff inflicted by it also grants the achievement. |
| 185 |  | Spiky Ball |  Spiky Ball Trap | |
| 186 |  | Spear |  Spear Trap | |
| 187 |  | Flamethrower |  Flame Trap | |
| 188 | | Flames | Flame Trap | |
| 654 | | Geyser | Geyser | |
| 655 |  | Bee Hive |  Bee Hive | Despite being classified as "trap", the Bee Hive itself does not do any damage, and being killed by Bees or Poisoned inflicted by Bees will not grant the achievement. As a result, it is impossible to get the achievement by only using Bee Hives. |
| 727 |  | Rolling Cactus | Rolling Cactus | Killed by  Rolling Cactus Spike does not count. |
| 980 |  | Venom Dart |  Venom Dart Trap | Being killed by the Acid Venom debuff does not count. |
| 1002 |  | TNT Barrel | TNT Barrel | |
| 1005 |  | Boulder | Boulder(For the worthy / Get fixed boi) | Spawned when a regular Boulder is broken. |
| 1007 |  | Gas Trap |  Gas Trap | Getting killed by the Poisoned debuff inflicted by it also grants the achievement. |
| 1013 |  | Bouncy Boulder |  Bouncy Boulder | |
| 1014 |  | Life Crystal Boulder |  Life Crystal Boulder | |
Tips
- Wiring for traps is visible to the player if they are holding a mechanism-related item such as a Pressure Plate in their hand. This can make early game exploration safer until items such as the Mechanical Lens and The Grand Design can be obtained.
- Randomly generated traps are a very cost-effective method of acquiring Wire and Actuators once the player has a Wire Cutter, saving 5 SC for every bit of wire collected and 10 SC for each Actuator (as opposed to purchasing them 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.
- Most traps deal double the damage to players in Expert Mode (in addition to the double damage players normally take from traps).
- The explosive trap's ore veins are usually bigger than an average vein and can have rare ores in them, so disarming the bomb and mining the ore can prove useful.
- Traps have many different ways they can generate making it harder to know one definitive way to deal with a trap.
Trivia
- (Old-gen console and 3DS versions) Despite seemingly being made out of Lihzahrd bricks, the Picksaw or above is not required to mine any of the Lihzahrd-related traps.
- In very rare circumstances, sand traps can also spawn inside other structures, including the Pyramid and Jungle Temple.
A sand trap inside a Pyramid.
A sand trap intersecting with the Jungle Temple.
History
- Desktop 1.4.4: Added Venom Dart Traps, Gas Traps, TNT Barrels, Bouncy Boulders, and Life Crystal Boulders.
- Desktop 1.4.1: Antlion Eggs can now grow on Sandstone Blocks.
- Desktop 1.4.0.5:
- Fixed a bug where Sand Traps would generate over furniture during world generation.
- Flame, Spear, Spiky Ball, and Super Dart traps in the Jungle Temple can no longer be broken with Explosives before Golem has been defeated.
- Desktop 1.4.0.1:
- Added Dead Man's Chest traps, Spike Pits, Sand Traps, Lava Traps, Pressure Plate Track Traps and Rolling Cactus.
- Geyser trap are now set off just by stepping on them.
- Temple traps now require the Picksaw or higher to mine.
- Desktop 1.3.1:
- Hitting a trap with a hammer will now change its firing direction.
- Geyser trap added.
- Desktop 1.3.0.3: Fixed bug where traps could critically hit.
- Desktop 1.3.0.1: Added Statue traps.
- Desktop 1.2.0.3: Traps no longer trigger Spectre armor.
- Desktop 1.2: Traps created upon world generation can no longer be triggered by enemies (they use different Pressure Plates).
- Desktop 1.1: Introduced.
- Console-Release: Introduced.
- Mobile-Release: Introduced.
- 3DS-Release: Introduced.
References
- ↑ Information taken from the Desktop 1.4.3.6 source code, method
Damage()inTerraria.Projectile.cs. There may be inaccuracies, as the current Desktop version is 1.4.4.9.
- ↑ Information taken from the Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, field
StatuesWithTrapsinTerraria.WorldBuilding.GenVars.cs. - ↑ Information taken from the Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, methods
HandleSpecialEvent()inTerraria.GameContent.Achievements.AchievementsHelper.cs,Damage()inTerraria.Projectile.cs, andStatusPlayer()inTerraria.Projectile.cs. - ↑ Information taken from the Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, method
Update()inTerraria.Player.csand fieldtrapDebuffSourceinTerraria.Player.cs.
- Boulder
- Rolling Cactus(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
- Dart Trap
- Venom Dart Trap(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
- Explosives
- Geyser(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Spike
Cracked Dungeon Bricks(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Dead Man's Chest(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
- Gas Trap(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
- TNT Barrel(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
- Bouncy Boulder(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
- Life Crystal Boulder(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Wire
Wrenches
Wire Cutter
Multicolor Wrench(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
The Grand Design(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Actuation Rod(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Mechanical Lens(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Presserator(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Lever
Switch
Pressure Plates
Pressure Plate Track
Timers
Detonator(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Trapped Chests(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)- Dead Man's Chest(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Gem Locks(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Logic Sensors(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Golf Cup(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Active/Inactive Stone Block
Actuator
Announcement Box(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Doors
Trap Door(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Tall Gate(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Pumps
Grate(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Teleporter
Functional Statues
Light sources
Gemspark Blocks(Desktop, Console, Old-gen console and Mobile versions)
Mini Volcano(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Large Volcano(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Pixel Box(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Junction Box(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Logic Gates(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Logic Gate Lamps(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
- Dart
- Venom Dart(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
- Super Dart
- Spear
- Spiky Ball
- Flame
- Explosives
- Geyser(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Land Mine