Difference between revisions of "Bombing Guide"

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Bombing Guide

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Bombs 3 Armor 3.1 Bombastic Demo 3.2 Volcanic Demo 3.3 Mad Bomber 3.3.1 The Outcome 4 Combinations 4.1 Support Tactics 4.1.1 Kamikaze. 4.1.2 Corner Shielding 4.2 Carry Your Team Tactics 4.2.1 Graviton + Freezy + Fire + Irontech 5 Diagrams/videos 6 Sources 7 Bomb Alchemy Paths

Introduction

A bomber is a core player key to any party. As a bomber, you are tasked with keeping enemies from getting too close to your allies, keeping yourself out of harm's way, and doing area of effect damage while applying a wide range of status effects. Though this may seem to be a tedious line of work at first, it is an integral position for any organized party, and to some there is no greater satisfaction than to see a bombing run go perfectly.

There are several important things to consider while playing the role of the bomber. First, and perhaps most importantly, is to avoid the common mistake of simply running about randomly while dropping bombs erratically. This will cause the positioning of monsters to become very difficult to predict, and the explosions may randomly push monsters into places where they may be able to attack a vulnerable ally. Instead, focus on what would be the most efficient strategy to ensure that monsters are persistently lured into your bombs (and preferably blown away from your allies). An easy tactic is to place a bomb, begin charging a second bomb, run into the crowd of enemies in front of you to lure them into the blast radius of your bomb, and then after the explosion, place the second bomb in the same place as the first, repeating for as long as necessary.

Second, a bomber must be aware of their party as well as their enemies. Remember that the Blast Bombs are great for soloing, but in a party, your group will begin to tire of not being able to see enemies due to the large blue cloud produced after the detonation, which is very dangerous. Though you may well be safe standing at the epicenter of your bomb, your fellow knights will likely be blinded, unable to see the foes that are around them. The only real way to effectively blast bomb in a party is to follow members closely if they have a gun, or to simply herd enemies into a corner for your swordsmen. To a lesser extent, be aware of the interactions of your bombs with certain monsters. Using the Ash of Agni on Oilers is a poor idea due to their healing when set ablaze, as well as using the Ionized Salt Bomb on Quicksilvers as they become extremely fast when affected with shock.

Third, memorize the spawn patterns that appear after a party button has been pressed. Though the spawns are somewhat random, they are collected from a pool of possible locations, and a bomber can capitalize on this by placing a Haze Bomb-series bomb on one of those locations before the monsters spawn, which will apply the respective status effect on the monsters that appear there. Even if no monsters spawn in that location, other monsters may be lured into the resulting cloud of mist, ensuring that the bomb is not wasted.

Lastly, a bomber must know how to deal with monsters that attack at range. though a knight with a sword or handgun will be able to combat them as normal usually, sometimes "pure" bombers will not have either of those things (instead having an equipment set of four bombs), or the duties of a bomber may take precedence over defeating those monsters personally. A bomber is not entirely helpless, however; bombs such as the Crystal Bombs fire projectiles instead of a standard explosion, and can be used to "snipe" ranged attackers such as Gun Puppies and Devilites. A well-placed Shivermist Buster may also freeze several foes in place, making Devilites easy targets and making it impossible for gun puppies to rotate, effectively limiting them to attacking only knights that cross directly in front of them.

Bombs

This detailed outline is taken from the bomb balance thread: http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/9924

Armor

An armor choice for bombers is quite simple; the demo series definitely improves the effectiveness a player has as a bomber, unless the player is lucky and owns a Charge Time Reduction UV. It is pretty simple until you get to the %star variant from the heavy demo suit. There are three choices; Bombastic Demo, Volcanic Demo and finally Mad Bomber.

The sets will be explained in this next segment.

Bombastic Demo

Starting with the worst choice possible, Bombastic demo is basically a no-no for a well educated bomber. The set is frustrating to use, especially as it feels like such a downgrade from the Heavy demo set; and the reason it is like this, is that it has no CTR bonuses as the other sets/lines have... and to replace the lack of CTR is a low damage bonus on each piece. As of now, the Bombastic set is unbalanced and has the same defense statistics as Volcanic Demo, but lacks the fire resistance. In terms of Damage per Second, the rate of deployment is easily favored over the somewhat minuscule damage bonus. On top of all this, the suit looks dull and unattractive as both the V-demo and Mad Bomber suit are. If you seriously consider this set over the other two, it has to been said that you are not a bomber.

Volcanic Demo

Volcanic Demo is another good choice, and is the best out of the three choices in terms of defense. The low CTR bonus on the suit, and the Medium CTR bonus on the helm are also an attractive feature of the set. The set is typically used in places such as Firestorm Citadel due to the elemental, normal and fire resistance stats. The helm is also one of the best for using the Shivermist Buster on Vanaduke, and many players who aren't a typical bomber will still own the helm. Volcanic demo is really for those who want to play it safe, or those with latency issues, and those are really the only two reasons why the set could be chosen by a good bomber over the favorite; Mad Bomber...MWAHAHA.

Mad Bomber

This set is comparable to Volcanic Demo in effectiveness, and is a great choice for those all-out Bombers. The set offers Medium CTR AND damage bonus, in return for a somewhat lackluster defense resistance wise. Owning the complete set along with a vanilla level 10 bomb, a bomber will acquire Maximum! charge time reduction, and with a medium(check) damage bonus UV on a bomb will acquire the maximum! damage to a certain mob, with very-high damage to everything else. The set is typically known as the best of the three just because it makes one feel they are a true bomber.

The Outcome

In all Mad Bomber and Volcanic are the main choices, and if you are undecided head for a Volcanic Demo helm and Mad Bomber suit, which evens out the fire resistance for Firestorm, yet still provides a very-high CTR on a level 1 bomb.

Combinations

Contributions - later date stuff.

Support Tactics

Kamikaze.

situations can unfold where you'll have to take one for the team. a prime example is against spiny toxilargos, where poison really demoralizes he team. simply place freezies next to him risking running through the poison field as the status affect of the bomb is all that matters.

Corner Shielding

One of my favourites is to grab a big radius blast bomb, sit in a corner while the rest of your team guns. it keeps melee mobs distant and your teamates will thank you when a zombie starts noming on their face.

Carry Your Team Tactics

Graviton + Freezy + Fire + Irontech

If you can afford four weapon slots, and still be pure bomber, this is essential for clearing out rooms solo. Basically herd your mob crowd with your graviton, stick them in one place with a freezy, drain their damage with fiery then blow the bajeebus out of them with a well placed irontech. This is serious fun, and can be minimized if a party all puts in for one bomb type - all stand in one place and let it rip.

Diagrams/videos

Sources

All of the bombers from The Elite bomber thread, and all the ones in game who i have learnt from. Main contributers to THIS page:

• Eeks
• Fallout
• Culture
• Syor

Bomb Alchemy Paths

See below for a list of bombs currently in game. This page has been designed to be a onestop shop for bombers - something you can alt-tab to whilst gaming to provide all the information you need in one place - the materials and costs of these bombs will be uploaded shortly (alternatively, click the bomb you want and view the materials there).