Spiral Knights

Bombs

5 replies [Last post]

Tue, 01/15/2013 - 18:49

Dot-Warner

Bombs, despite their AOE and strong(ish) attack power, are as far as I can tell* very low tier in terms of DPS--even back in the pre-Steam days, I didn't see a lot of players using bombs because in teams, the sword and gun users tended to clear out crowds before bombs could be of any use.

Things, IMO, that would make bombs more viable as a weapon, or at least have more utility (if this in conjunction with one of the other suggestions makes bombs too OP, then restrict this ability to a single line of bombs):
- Allow bombs be used uncharged, but still have fuse time--this allows bombs to at least somewhat keep up with sword and gun users for damage output.
- Change charged bombs from time fuse to remote trigger--that way you can actually use bombs for more tactical area denial besides "hope the enemy is still in range/alive by the time it goes off.
- Allow bombs to be thrown and explode on contact--this allows bombs to be used for switches/long range damage.
- Bombs that add status ailments have 100% effectiveness when used charged--make it worth the time it takes to charge the bomb.

*Mind you, I never made it past the levels of dungeon where it took paid mist time to craft weapons, so I don't know how powerful bombs get in the late game. I'm posting from my experience as an F2P user.

Tue, 01/15/2013 - 18:53

Klipik

" Allow bombs be used uncharged, but still have fuse time--this allows bombs to at least somewhat keep up with sword and gun users for damage output."

Apparently it was like that in the beta, and it was OP. so they changed then and never made them good again.

" Change charged bombs from time fuse to remote trigger--that way you can actually use bombs for more tactical area denial besides "hope the enemy is still in range/alive by the time it goes off."

I feel like that'd be too easy, but I don't know. I'm not a bomber.

"Allow bombs to be thrown and explode on contact--this allows bombs to be used for switches/long range damage."

Pulsar.

"- Bombs that add status ailments have 100% effectiveness when used charged--make it worth the time it takes to charge the bomb."

yes.

"*Mind you, I never made it past the levels of dungeon where it took paid mist time to craft weapons, so I don't know how powerful bombs get in the late game. I'm posting from my experience as an F2P user."

...you know you don't have to pay to get past 2*, right?

Tue, 01/15/2013 - 19:16

Luguiru

I wonder how balanced bombs would be if placing with the basic attack created a small (~50% blast radius and damage) version of the bomb was possible but it has a cooldown matching the charge time you would need to walk around vulnerable. Instead of having to charge first and place after you get instant gratification but the bomb becomes unusable for the time which under the current system was spent preparing the bomb to begin with. I feel like I have repeated this at least four times before but it was probably being screamed in my head but never went on screen.

Apparently in beta you could spam bombs through the basic attack. With small blast radii on a new kind of bomb mechanic that could still work, see gremlin Demos for what I mean here.

Remote detonation would be pretty nice. Not great, not perfect, but not useless. Personally I would rather make bomb fuses invisible to enemies when it comes to the Clockworks and Lockdown. Are you too close to that Voltaic? How close is its fuse to detonating and farting a cloud out? Bombs. Traps. Bombs working as traps. Tell me that is unjustified.

Throwable bombs would be grenades. Again, gremlin Demos do that. If we had a bomb that worked but in a watered down way (see the T3 version; its "charge attack" throws several bombs, but the charge attack on our version of the bomb could simply throw one while the basic attack has the cooldown system earlier). Then again we already have Pulsar.

Having status afflicting bombs absolutely guarantee affliction is overpowered. If we go back to that basic-attacks-with-cooldowns-after-use system and apply it to a Vaporizer, where the basic attack creates a smaller version of the cloud but current status rates, the charge attack could have both the larger area coverage and an additional effect: reducing enemy resistance to that specific status. This would be a huge problem when it comes to using a Vaporizer against status themed enemies that match, like using a Voltaic against shock fiends/robots/whatevers, but it would mean more unique support effects for the "support weapon type". Venom Veiler is a support weapon. Agni is a burn everything to the ground weapon.

Tue, 01/15/2013 - 19:43

Zeddy

Bombs are bit underhwelming in early tiers. Each rank after 2* increases the radius of most bombs until they eventually cover half the screen. This is the point where swords can't even hope to compete with the total damage output of bombs., as bombs will allow you to hit every enemy involved in a given battle.

"Bombs that add status ailments have 100% effectiveness when used charged--make it worth the time it takes to charge the bomb."

Have you tried out mist bombs? Those basically do that already.

Also feel free to shoot me a friend request. I'll be happy to show you to ropes of things.

Tue, 01/15/2013 - 20:34

Qwez

Mhmm...

"Having status afflicting bombs absolutely guarantee affliction is overpowered"
So, Brandishes are overpowered

Tue, 01/15/2013 - 20:42

Klipik

And Alchemers?

Search

Bombs