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Bombing Guide

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Bombs 2.1 Nitronome 2.2 Big Angry Bomb 2.3 Irontech Destroyer 2.4 Graviton Vortex 2.5 Dark Briar Barrage 2.6 Shivermist Buster 2.7 Ash of Agni 2.8 Venom Veiler 2.9 Voltaic Tempest 2.10 Ionized Salt Bomb 2.11 Radiant Sun Shards. 2.12 Heavy Deconstructor 3 Bomb Alchemy Paths 4 Bomb Charge Time 5 Armor 5.1 Bombastic Demo 5.2 Volcanic Demo 5.3 Mad Bomber 5.4 Conclusion 6 Tactics 6.1 General Tactics 6.1.1 Shards 6.2 Support Tactics 6.2.1 Kamikaze 6.2.2 Corner Shielding 6.3 Carry Your Team Tactics 6.3.1 Graviton + Freezy + Fire + Irontech 7 Diagrams/Videos 8 F.A.Q.

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 four points to being a bomber;

• avoid the common mistake of simply running about randomly while dropping bombs erratically.
• be aware of their party as well as their enemies.
• memorize the spawn patterns that appear after a party button has been pressed. and,
• know how to deal with monsters that attack at range.

Bombs

The main equipment needed for a bomber is, of course, a bomb.

Nitronome

Starting off with the best DPS Bomb, the Nitronome is the most effective blast bomb; with short fuse, medium knockback, decent damage and the best CTR possible. In general it is typical for players to choose Nitro over the Big Angry Bomb (BAB) and Irontech, as the movements make sense, and don't feel worthless and sluggish as the two other options do. This bomb is a must for bombers, and is useful in the majority of situations due to its blast canceling most enemy attacks with a knock down potential, and a knockback large enough for a bomber to place another bomb before mobs can again reach the player. An example of a great Nitronome chain can be seen here (link to a video)

Big Angry Bomb

The next best option (but still considered a terrible option and isn't recommended) is the Big Angry Bomb. This bomb offers a large knockback, said to be in between that of a calibur, and a Divine Avenger's charge. It sounds useful, and looks tempting due as it has the largest damage possible by a bomb, however it is quite unusable, as it has a large fuse, short radius, slow movement when charging (leaving a player open for mobs attacks) but with a CTR of a blast bomb. There aren't really any situations this bomb could be used over Nitronome, unless it was used to nuke a swarm of mobs away from the player when in dire trouble. In party's, this bomb... annoys any player that you are with, as no one wants to be strolling along only to find a jelly fly across and hit them mid attack. It's almost worse than a Calibur user who only uses the charge attack. Overall... it isn't an option unless you are a collector, or just want to try it for yourself. Just don't make a forum post complaining about it, because, well, we know.

Irontech Destroyer

Basically not an option... at all. long fuse, small radius, average damage (in between nitro + BAB) and average knock back. Any one upgrading from the 4* version will be disappointed to find the 5 star version is just a 'redder' color than its predecessor. Overall; Don't get it, as really, BAB was bad, and this is worse.

Graviton Vortex

This is another 'Situation' bomb. The Graviton Vortex is a bomb every bomber will own, just because the idea of a black hole is so cool. Many players disagree with those exclaiming how great the bomb is, but the ones disagreeing usually haven't used the bomb to it's full potential or only have the 4star version. The Vortex is great with localizing mobs to one area, and if there is a large amount of monsters in the hole, the knock back usually performed when there is 1 or 2 enemies is next to null, and the bomb can successfully be chained with little effort. This bomb also does wonder with sword combinations (like the brandish line) and can be combined with the Shivermist Buster to disallow any knock back from the bomb; which overall traps enemies to a specific area. Graviton is still something of an acquired taste. The bombing patterns used are quite different from that of blast bombs epicenter routine and Vaporizer's kiting pattern.. and it can only be experimented with. The main pattern is just to walk around in a large figure 8 if one is pure bombing, but there are other ways to feel comfortable about. There is an indepth discussion of Graviton (particularly the Vortex) located at http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/13755 in the arsenal sub-forums.

• The Graviton Vortex is best used against melee enemies that cannot get in range quickly. Ranged enemies are likely to snipe you off as you go in to plant the bomb thus causing you to drop the charge and fast, melee enemies (I can only really think of Greavers right now) will hit you before you finish charging.
• The first and simplest way to plant the Vortex is to rotate around the enemies until they've collected themselves roughly into a packed formation. At this point you should place the bomb such that it will catch the most enemies as they try to walk to attack you.
• The second and somewhat harder to notice way is in parties. This situation arises when the enemies are not interested in you (read: they are aggro-ing another player). If this is the case then you can place the Vortex deeper into their ranks since you don't give them a reason to attack you until the bomb has actually gone off. In my experience you can get about 1-2 enemies into their ranks before you start encountering enemies that will attack you.
• Do not be afraid to stop charging and put up your shield. Sometimes you miscalculate and an enemy gets too close for comfort. You're likely not going to get to charge the rest of the way anyway since you'll probably get hit being so slow.
• If you plan on following up the Graviton Vortex with another charge attack from a different weapon you should get familiar with that charge attack. With a fast enough charge you can shield after you drop the bomb, move away, and still have enough time to charge up and get an attack in. The best way to ensure you charge your weapon fast enough is to practice with it enough to the point where you don't see the yellow flash (Not sure if this technique is already documented but nonetheless). All I mean by this is that if you time it right, you'll release the charge almost exactly at the same time it finishes charging.

For demonstrations of using the Vortex in various situations against various enemies here is a Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKjKrWnpbKY

Dark Briar Barrage

Dark Briar Barrage (DBB) is often considered as one of the cool kids bombs. The bomb is obtained by killing Ol' Snarby around 4 times and through upgrading from the spine cone bomb originally received through brinks' token exchange. It isn't the hardest bomb to get, so that's not the reason it is so awesome. What's awesome is the Dark Briar's effect; which is essentially a ghost like Snarbolax roaring at the mobs feeling the wrath of its piercing spikes. Onto the actual effectiveness; DBB can be a nice alternative to the Nitronome as it has similar radius, CTR and relatively the same fuse time (it is noticeable). However, the bomb provides no knockback - just a knock-down to beasts and fiends (remember knock-downs don't always happen, but there is a higher chance in solo play). This is considered as a good thing and a bad thing. One good thing is that other team members who get annoyed with poorly placed nitros flinging jellies into them are relieved after switching to the DBB. However it then becomes quite limiting as Dark Briar only deals Piercing, and unless you got lucky with a good damage+ UV mobs that usually aren't problems becomes threats, not to mention the limited crowd control without the knockback. In the end, Dark Briar is useful, and can definitely be used as a 2nd slot bomb (vaporizer + DBB covers the damage types as well as giving critical hits in some mob fields).

Shivermist Buster

Looking for crowd control? You have found everything you need! The freeze line with its highest upgrade, the Shivermist Buster, will freeze mobs in place. The damage is quite low, though. If a mob that is frozen takes no damage until the status effect wears off, it will take some damage from the thawing. This bomb can be a very good support weapon. Freeze most of the mobs, finish the leftovers. Alternatively, you can pick single mobs and leave the rest. Note that mobs will become unfrozen if they take damage of any kind. They are also still able to attack, hitting them from the side or from behind is safe. Combining a freeze bomb with a damaging weapon can be quite devastating. First freeze the mobs in place, then charge up a blast bomb or a calibur sword. Since the mobs are all herded nicely, the AOE damage will apply to many targets at once. There is a downside that should be considered, however. If a teammate or you is trapped in a corner and mobs are around him, freezing the mobs will stick them in place. As a result, the knight will not be able to evade the situation by pushing the mobs away with his shield.

Ash of Agni

Fire good

Venom Veiler

It's a joke right

Voltaic Tempest

y u no get this bomb yet?

Ionized Salt Bomb

Any one telling you how great this bomb is, is sadly mistaken. The bomb itself has the slowest CTR of any bomb, in fact its in its' own league. Sure the damage is effective, and might work well in Tier 1 + 2 against beasts but beyond that its a waste of CE especially when Radiant offers you more. One point players might argue, is that the bomb's Shock chance makes up for the charge time, but there isn't really anything else. The bomb has normal + piercing damage, with a bonus Jelly damage (overall making the ineffective piercing give average damage) and is useful against all mobs apart from construct. The DPS on the bomb is really why the minority of bombers use it, and as Radiant Sun Shards covers a comparable range of effectiveness towards mob types and has a faster charge time, Sun Shards is usually favored over Ionized. In the end Dark Briar Barrage is better against beasts than ionized (which players claim is it's leading point) with higher DPS and a generally satisfying charge time, which doesn't throw a bomber off after using other bombs. In all, Radiant is the better option.

Radiant Sun Shards.

There are some bombs that are fun to use, and aren't useful.... Radiant Sun Shards is both fun to use and useful, with a side of added difficulty. Sun Shards claim to fame was in the last preview; where it was the first 5 star item available through the bazaar for a hefty 103k, and was also favored over other bombs such as Nitronome... the rest were typically unused. Although the bomb has been nerfed to 4star now, its capabilities remain. The bomb is incredible; covering all mob fields, apart from jellies (damage types canceling Et Cetera), and makes colorful rainbows spew from Trojans and those Thomas-the-Tank-Engine-like slag guards. It remains at its 4 star form as a completely viable bomb for tier 3, and will make short work of Firestorm Citadel. Its all well and good that the damages are there, but switching from a radius bomb to a shard bomb is quite a change to get used to. There are many new tactics in which are very different from kiting or spamming. The trick to Sun Shards is to try to make as many of the shards hit your target as possible. In FSC each shard does around 222 damage (give or take, depending on a players bonuses) and can do a very large sum of damage to slags and Trojans. To keep it in order, Shard bombing will be discussed below in the Tactics section. Sun Shards is definitely a choice for a pure bomber heading to end game, and taking on Vannaduke, and switching from an Argent peacemaker, or a sword is still an operable choice.

Heavy Deconstructor

One of the least known bombs is the Heavy Deconstructor. This bomb gives the appearance of a gremlin-demo style 'ticker' bomb, as well as showing what appears to be the Darkfang symbol in the effect. The Heavy Decon is one of the least used just because, in all honesty, Master Blast Bomb is better. The two are the same in fuse, radius and CTR....so whats the problem? The +Construct damage isn't really that noticeable and the Master Blast bombs extra damage overall is a nicer option. In end game bomber mode, its probably just a better option to look for a UV Construct bonus than going to the effort of making a heavy decon. Previously(as in, in the preview), The Heavy Decon was even more disappointing with an incredibly small radius (that of today's regular blast- super blast) . However back then, it seemed to have an actual use, due to the reduced radius after getting a UV on bombs (Obviously this feature has been removed), it was an actual option inside the bombing community, eliminating gun puppies in a matter of 3 hits in a 4 way party. Despite what is behind us, there is no real use in favoring a Heavy Deconstructor over the Master Blast (especially with a +construct UV), and for now it is only a novelty; perhaps it will be balanced in the future.

Bomb Alchemy Paths

This is a list of the alchemy paths of all the bombs currently in game. Click the bomb you want to view the materials needed to craft it.

The Haze Bomb

The Haze Bomb

☆☆☆☆☆ ★☆☆☆☆ ★★☆☆☆ ★★★☆☆ ★★★★☆ ★★★★★ Haze Bomb Fiery Vaporizer Fiery Vaporizer Mk II Fiery Atomizer Ash of Agni Haze Bomb Freezing Vaporizer Freezing Vaporizer Mk II Freezing Atomizer Shivermist Buster Haze Bomb Toxic Vaporizer Toxic Vaporizer Mk II Toxic Atomizer Venom Veiler

The Blast Bomb

The Blast Bomb

☆☆☆☆☆ ★☆☆☆☆ ★★☆☆☆ ★★★☆☆ ★★★★☆ ★★★★★ Blast Bomb Super Blast Bomb Master Blast Bomb Nitronome Blast Bomb Super Blast Bomb Master Blast Bomb Big Angry Bomb Blast Bomb Super Blast Bomb Irontech Bomb Irontech Destroyer Blast Bomb Super Blast Bomb Graviton Bomb Graviton Vortex Blast Bomb Deconstructor Heavy Deconstructor

The Crystal Bomb

The Crystal Bomb

☆☆☆☆☆ ★☆☆☆☆ ★★☆☆☆ ★★★☆☆ ★★★★☆ ★★★★★ Crystal Bomb Sun Shards Radiant Sun Shards Crystal Bomb Rock Salt Bomb Ionized Salt Bomb

The Spine Cone

The Spine Cone

☆☆☆☆☆ ★☆☆☆☆ ★★☆☆☆ ★★★☆☆ ★★★★☆ ★★★★★ Spine Cone Twisted Spine Cone Spike Shower Dark Briar Barrage

The Static Capacitor

The Static Capacitor

☆☆☆☆☆ ★☆☆☆☆ ★★☆☆☆ ★★★☆☆ ★★★★☆ ★★★★★ Static Capacitor Lightning Capacitor Plasma Capacitor Voltaic Tempest

Other Bombs

Other Bombs

☆☆☆☆☆ ★☆☆☆☆ ★★☆☆☆ ★★★☆☆ ★★★★☆ ★★★★★ Cold Snap Firecracker Static Flash

Bomb Charge Time

Bomb charge time is the minimum time required to hold down the action key to successfully prepare a bomb. The minimum charge time occurs prior to the charge-complete animation (glowing). All bombs gain a natural CTR bonus while leveling up via heat. At level 5, bombs will gain a low charge time reduction and at level 10 they will have a medium charge time reduction bonus.

Bombs that share Haze Bomb charge times: Graviton Bomb, Big Angry Bomb, Voltaic Tempest

Bombs that share Blast Bomb charge times: Dark Briar Barrage, Sun Shards, Radiant Sun Shards, Irontech Destroyer, Heavy Deconstructor, Rock Salt Bomb

Armor

The armor choice for bombers is quite simple. The demo series (Spiral Demo Helm, Spiral Demo Suit and their upgrades) definitely improves the effectiveness a player has as a bomber, unless the player is lucky and owns UV equipment with Charge Time Reduction (CTR). It is pretty simple until you get to the five star variant by upgrading the Heavy Demo set. There are three choices: Bombastic Demo, Volcanic Demo and finally Mad Bomber.

Bombastic Demo

Starting with the worst choice possible, the Bombastic Demo set (Bombastic Demo Suit, Bombastic Demo Helm) 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; this is because it has no CTR bonuses as the other sets. The only replacement for 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 may appear as cosmetically unappealing to some unlike both the Volcanic Demo Suit and Mad Bomber Suit. Choosing this set should be thoroughly thought about and is not recommended.

Volcanic Demo

The Volcanic Demo set (Volcanic Demo Suit, Volcanic Demo Helm) is a 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 do not pursue a typical bomber equipment route 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

The Mad Bomber set (Mad Bomber Suit, Mad Bomber Mask) is comparable to Volcanic Demo in effectiveness, and is a great choice for all-out Bombers. The set offers Medium CTR AND damage bonus, in return for a somewhat lackluster defense considering resistance. Wearing the complete set using a level 10 bomb without a CTR UV, a bomber will acquire "Maximum!" charge time reduction, and with a medium 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 if only by giving the feeling of being a true bomber.

Conclusion

The Mad Bomber and the Volcanic Demo sets are the main choices. If you are undecided, head for a Volcanic Demo helm and Mad Bomber suit, which grants fire resistance for Firestorm Citadel runs, yet still provides "Maximum!" CTR on a level 10 bomb.

Tactics

General Tactics

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.

Shards

Shard bombs are quite the alternative to the spam and kite methods of Haze and Blast lines. Here's a few tactics to get started.

• Spamming is useful in general, however in beast, fiend and gremlin environments, the field becomes hazardous for team members due to the large amount of dodging mobs(the shards act as projectiles similar to which guns use, so these bombs are really just guns that shoot a number of directions in one time).
• In FCS slags can be short work. Stand in one place until a slag starts the leap attack animation; place a Radiant Sun Shards where your standing and walk backwards (don't shield or it will knock them away). This method hits the slag with every projectile, and with the right bonuses '1Hitting' is plausible.
• Trojans are now made easy. Shiver - circle: Trojan is frozen; Place Rad behind them = Big Damage and only a few hits to take them out.

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 the 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

F.A.Q.

There are a few questions that have been answered repeatedly, yet Players still get confused. So here are some Answers to the Questions that haven't specifically been talked about in this guide.

Question: OMG! Why are there charge times on bomb? It would work much better if there were none, and the only reason to charge a bomb would be to give it more power/radius.

Answer: In early previews, this is exactly how bombs worked; A player could repeatedly place (spam) bombs everywhere, and due to the charge time only applying to larger power the charge was rarely used due to a lower DPS than placing 3 bombs in a few seconds. Bombing in the previews was abused, with shard bombs granting the best deployment to damage rate. Three Rings did the right thing in severely nerfing bombs before the last preview, but this resulted in bombs being underused, and only being made effective by a select group. Bombing hasn't changed since the last preview, however the only reason for a wider use of bombs today is because players like discovering these less used weapons for themselves, or it has been highlighted to them by other players the usefulness of bombs.