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The upside is that you can also shield bump monsters into the radius.

I think the easiest way would just be to give yourself more range with the bombs and try not to bait attacks until they're in the range of the explosion.
Try to stand outside of the radius as well.
If they're all coming from one direction you don't need to stand on the bomb, as they will still walk over the radius to get to you.

Since bombs don't interrupt attacks, there's not really all that much point in blocking early either, as you will still have time during the explosion to block attacks if you are trying to bait monsters into the radius.
And the knockback is usually preferable to knocking them away with your shield.

Also there's a misconception about Zombies and having a huge hitbox.
It's just that people usually try the run around in circles trick on them like other slow monsters, but Zombies can actually turn during their charge up.
Just backpedal and you will be fine.
If they are doing their jump attack, running forwards to the side will usually work, since it's range is fixed once they start jumping it won't hit you.

Don't shield when you don't need to. Don't put bombs down where you will have to shield bump enemies away before they blow up. Bump zombies into the mist instead of away from it.

If you're on a full party you can prey on other's fights.

Stay away from the fight while charging, then come running and drop it at their feet and gain distance again. I rarely use the shield. You can play risky, always moving around but watching the fight.

If it's a small radius bombs you can predict where mobs will be and drop in their path. You can also attract them, lure them to the bomb always keeping a safe range or circling around to avoid line of fire.

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If you play with someone else, I would be willing to bet that what -they- see is you run up to the zombies and drop your bomb. You stand there for a second or two until the zombie is right on top of you, and then start running way too late...

I've seen players do all sorts of apparently 'stupid' things because the lag didn't tell them where the monsters were or else didn't let them move as they were supposed to.

I've played through some pretty bad lag and found that I had to shield a lot more than usual too, and had to try to predict monsters movements much more than usual, attacking or running from where I thought they were going. Shielding whenever all the monsters stopped dead and stared stupidly into space (because when that happens you know it's a lag spike and in a moment they're all going to teleport and rage all over you... )

Sounds to me like you have an awful amount of lag. Anyway bombing zombies is one of the easiest things in the game:

Charge up a bomb. Get within jumping range of the zombies. When they start charging up their jump attack, you plant your bomb and move out of the way. They'll jump right on top of it.

If you release your shield fast enough after they hit you won't knock them away.

"When they start charging up their jump attack, you plant your bomb and move out of the way. They'll jump right on top of it"

Thanks, that helps a lot. And I'm feeling really dumb now for never thinking of that. :x

"Shielding whenever all the monsters stopped dead and stared stupidly into space (because when that happens you know it's a lag spike and in a moment they're all going to teleport and rage all over you... )"

Yeah, I've had that happen quite a bit...

But anyway, I'm getting better at using the bomb solo, and it is much easier to use in a party when someone else has the monsters distracted. It just takes some time for me to get used to timing with the lag... For example, tier 2 and higher Retrodes used to be guaranteed death for me when I was solo because the lag made the laser timing hard to read, but now that I've gotten used to the actual timing it takes with my lag I can solo them without getting hit. :x