Damage for those 2 bombs are up on the wiki now for any that wish to see them. Damage for the other bombs released will be up as soon as I finish leveling one of them.
http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Shocking_Salt_Bomb
http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Scintillating_Sun_Shards
As it stands I can already tell you that the other 4 have a much higher base damage then the Sun Shards and Salt Bomb lines though.
Both have max damage for the following test, Depth 24:
Shocking Salt Bomb (5*), level 10, used on a Gremlin... 174 from the bomb, 198 from the shards.
Heavy Crystal Bomb (4*), level 1, used on a Construct... 120 from the bomb, 156 from the shards.
If you want the status then I say go for the Salt Bomb/Sun Shards. If you just want pure damage output go for the regular ones, but anybody that has been around any length of time already knows that.
~Gwen
Not sure if this holds up for shadow vs shadow, pierce vs pierce but I'm assuming it does since base damage for other weapons has been pretty consistent across similar weapon types. I have DCB (5* ele) and SSB (5* shadow/shock)
DEP BOM INI SEC
D22 DCB 157 200
D22 SSB 157 179
D25 DCB 181 230
D25 SSB 181 206
The price you pay for status is ~10.5% less damage on shards but not the initial explosion. (Note: my values are with max damage bonus)