I currently run with a gun as my main weapon and a sword as my secondary. What I WANT to do is bomb and gun (no fears, I will still have swords). What would the community say are the best combinations for this particular build?
Weapon Combos
My best weapon is my plague needle (ctr: ultra, asl: low DmB: construct: low) its actually quite effective.
Fehzor gave you a subtle answer, in which the two weapons synergize with each other. Let me give you a less-clever answer, consisting simply of one good bomb and one good gun:
* Dark Briar Barrage and Dark Retribution are high-damage, easy-to-use, party-friendly bombs. Get both, and carry whichever one seems more relevant to the current situation.
* Alchemers (once you master the ricochets) and Blitz Needle are powerful guns. Carry one of those. Since you already have Plague Needle, just use that, unless you're carrying DBB, in which case you need a different damage type. Keep in mind that the gunner update will be released "soon", causing us to re-evaluate many of the guns. So wait a while, before getting any new guns.
My builds are usually ridiculous.
Vortex+Shivermist+ Nova/Umbra Driver:
Place Vortex, Shivermist, Charge shot Driver into crowd. Laugh menacingly as bodies explode into nothingness. This build can alternate well with Neutralizer as well.
Mega Magnus/Iron Slug/Callahan+Shivermist:
Mega Magnus isn't very effective, but still a hell of alot of fun. Swap Shivermist with Venom Veiler and kill quicker.
Supernova+Voltaic Tempest. Alternate: Polaris+Venom Veiler:
Nothing will be able to move. Just blast stuff into corners. Maximum party protection ensured.
Ash of Agni+Venom Veiler:
No guns, but still deals decent damage over time and makes your party incredibly happy to have you.
These builds are quite party friendly, besides the second one, that's just for pointless fun.
Shivermist and Plague will wreck anything you come across, as long as it's not a slime or construct or freeze-themed (and even then plague charge wrecks the freeze themed enemy's faces anyway)
While it's a good idea to find weapons that synergise well with each other, it's equally effective to simply use two weapons that are both effective by themselves.
Edit: I typed this and left it in my browser and by the time I clicked submit there were two more responses \o/
Since you already have a plague needle, I'd recommend getting a shivermist buster to freeze+charge the enemies with. This allows you to safely kill pretty much anything you can get frozen+trapped.
Vortex+Sudaruska/Triglav is da best. The triglav will freeze enemies but the bomb explosion and after-shock usually sorts that out, leaving enemies moslty mobile but also shocked and not-attacking, helping with any dangers that freeze might have in hindering kiting. Combine with a valiance or your choice of antigua line to finish them off, or bomb/charge again.
When the vortex bomb activates, trying shooting alchemer charges or Blitz/Plague INTO the cluster, rather than far from outside. Guns work because of the explosions the bullets cause whenever they hit something, so when you walk up and shoot directly into the cluster, 5 or 6 monsters experience the same bullet. This tends to work often for me, but I don't know about anybody else. Shooting them from further away only hits around 2-3 monsters per bullet. You could probably combo some sword after if your gun charges aren't fast enough.
I've tried a few things.
The best build is really up to what you want to do though. Basically, pick one:
Crowd control (damage) / run away and win by dropping bombs = choose ash of agni/voltaic tempest/nitronome/dark retribution/dark briar barrage
Crowd control (support) = choose stagger storm/venom veilor/vortex bombs
Gimp yourself for no real reason = heavy deconstructor, shard bombs
And then pick another for your gun:
Be incredibly damaging/support your team with gunfire = Polaris, Supernova, Alchemers, Blitz Needle, Pepperbox
Strafe and stay alive = Valiance, Carbine, Argent Peacemaker, Alchemers, Supernova, Polaris