Shift At Midnight: Traps Guide
Traps are how you fight back without fighting. Here's what works against what, how to set up your defenses, and the placement strategy that survives Blood Moons.
How traps work
Traps are the station's defense system: place them, funnel threats into them, and let the hardware do the damage. They're your primary way of dealing with monsters early on, when you have no business fighting anything directly.
Which traps work on what
- Land mines and bear traps are the community's top picks — they're the most effective tools against Demented, and players have killed them by accident with well-placed ones.
- Cheap traps first. Launch-week testing found the cheapest trap is the best early-game value. Don't save up for the expensive one while you're defenseless.
- Barricades (boards) buy time at doors — they don't kill, but they slow the breach.
- Buy when prices are low — the shop's prices fluctuate, so stock up on the dips.
The three entrances
Community consensus is clear: your barricade and trap priority is thethree entrances from outside:
- The front door
- The bathroom
- The back door
The Entity and its friends inevitably breach these. A proven setup: leaveone board and one trap next to each entrance, disarmed — that way you don't have to carry them across the store during a raid. Customers don't care about disarmed traps or boards lying around; only certain items bother them.
Placement strategy
- Chokepoints over open areas — a trap in a doorway hits everyone who passes; a trap in the middle of the floor hits nobody.
- Protect the back room — it's where things go wrong most often.
- One trap per approach path — don't stack two traps on the same route.
- Cover the register — you're stationary while working it, which is exactly when doppelgangers strike.
- Don't use the sledgehammer as a "trap." It one-hit kills humans (penalty!) and destroys limbs you could bag for money. Save it for the end-of-night entity defense.
FAQ
Which trap is best for beginners?
The cheapest one — community testing found it's the best early-game value. Upgrade later.
What kills Demented reliably?
Land mines and bear traps. Looking at them doesn't always freeze them, so traps are the answer.
Where should I always trap?
The three outside entrances: front, bathroom, and back.
Do traps break?
They can be spent or destroyed — plan on rearming or replacing them between threats.
Related:Beginner's Guide ·Money Guide ·Monster Guide