Dark Briar Barrage and Dark Retribution let you slaughter everything in PvE. And they're party-friendly. Somehow you left them out of your "all bombs are haze, shard, and vortex bombs".

And it's easier to get UVs on bombs than on swords and guns, because there is only one to care about (CTR) as opposed to two (CTR and ASI). I bomb frequently, pleasurably, and effectively.

Bombs cover a large area and don't need to aim at the expense of needing great timing.
Guns deal good damage at a distance at the expense of often requiring great aim.
Swords deal good damage with high speed at the expense of being vulnerable to enemy attacks.

There are a couple new bomb styles that I would like and have commented on their respective suggestion threads.

Time to let me doing some extracting on your original post and make you think otherwise.

'' Not only does it lack the damage of most swords and guns, each bomb is the same: An AoE That has no damage on it.''

Just no. As you said, the vortex and the shard bombs are an exception however what you said is false. Even though some bombs are used for causing statuses, there is a small radius were the bomb actually does damage. (About 1 block from where you put down the bomb)

''Also, all bombing gear right now only provides elemental + Normal Damage Resistances. That doesn't seem right considering one of them's made of Mercury (The normal armor-set offers up piercing defines.) ''

I agree with you however to be honest, any gear can be used even if it's not seen as bombing gear. The Ice Queen Set is great for bombers as it stops stun and freeze from affecting the player at times where they could be affecting an entire barrage of monsters in an arena.

''- UV's unique to bombs?
Why haven't some bomb-unique UV's come out yet? Fuse time, bomb damage and even Area of Effect should all be fair-game all things considered. Swords are able to put out damage up-close, but bombs should have some safety and reach.''

Fuse time is a no. It is an ideal uv to have however it could possibly make bombing too easy. Nitronome could be easily spammed with ctr max and fuse time max, vortex bombs would easily drag enemies into you as you don't have time to move out of the vortex. Area Of Effect increase would also be disastrous.

I don't believe you understand what bombs have to offer. In PVE, they allow for statuses to happen immediately on a monster, aiding the team or causing instant damage to an entire army of monsters. The fact is, bombs are suppose to enable an AoE effect, being a part of crowd control and helping the player deal with mobs in ways that a sword or gun can't. No sword should be putting statuses on someone quickly nor should any gun be able to drag monsters into one position. The use of bombs can really help a team in so many ways and to be honest, I find them to be more outstanding than guns or swords.

there are two purely offensive bombs right now, they are DBB and DR.

DBB hasn't got any knockback, that pretty much means you hit more enemies easily.
DR is, well, DR. it shreds anything that isn't resistant to shadow.

Bombing has problems, but I didn't see you bring up any of them.

"bombing in this game is the least balanced/varitable of all the classes a player can enter"

I disagree with this a lot! Bombs are really different from each other, and it's the most balanced category of weapons (even without ignoring shards). Few other weapons play as radically different within a single weapon tree as Nitro and BAB. Like, they don't have the same application at all. Sudaruska and Triglav are basically the same sword. CIV is just a bad Leviathan Blade. I don't know about anyone using Storm Driver and Nova Driver differently. Gran Faust and Divine Avenger work a bit different with the charge, and sometimes that curse does something. Blitz Needle and Pepperbox play pretty differently. That's the most radical differences in the same line I can think of for swords and guns.

But bombs? With Nitro, you whittle down enemies and keep them at a semi-safe distance, constantly judging where you should plant your next one, and dashing around quickly in patterns. Irontech and BAB don't play like that at all; you move slower, and need to start using it long before you're actually crowded. The two bombs seem similar on paper, but Irontech has a bit more DPS than BAB, while BAB is a terrible monster of a bomb that will send enemies flying outside of your screen if there's room for it.

Dark Briar Barrage works differently from Nitro. Mostly in that it's severely easier to use, but it lacks the interruption needed to keep safe in the highest levels of play (shadow lairs). That's not to say it's not usable there, just that it will provide damage, and only damage, rather than Nitro's knockback which can be a lifesaver.

Dark Retribution plays like nothing else does. It took me a while to use it effectively against gremlins. It has the highest DPS-to-safety ratio per target in the game, especially after RSS was removed, perhaps until the mixmaster gun was introduced. 90% movement speed while charging it, a planting time of once per second, up to 12 hit per enemy each planting, and unlike autoguns it has no problem hitting large groups of enemies in one go.

No two mist bombs are the same. I believe this to be so self-evident that I'm not sure I see the point in writing down why. Voltedge and Combuster are basically the same sword. Voltaic Tempest and Shivermist Buster are not. Every mist bomb covers a huge area with basically 100% status infliction, and that severely changes how any battle a mist bomber is present in is going to play out. Tell me if these all sound like the fight to you:

• Ash of Agni: Most enemies are going to run after the mist bomber. They will all eventually die. The bomber can either kite them at entirely safe distances, or stack up on fire between the enemies to make them die faster. If there are T3 menders present, those will have to be dealt with before the battle can end.
• Shivermist Buster: Everyone can take their time to prepare their strongest attack, unleashing it at the enemy's back without worrying about retaliation. The mist bomber himself can even change between freezing and doing something else. There's time.
• Voltaic Tempest: The go-to bomb in PvP. In PvE, it's mostly used to 'glue' mobs of enemies together.
• Venom Veiler: Enemies deal severely less damage, take a bit more damage, and any healers on the stage will make your enemies die faster. The fight just overall becomes easier.
• Stagger Storm: Also makes the enemies easier, but makes it harder to get hit and easier to get hits in rather than reducing the punishment for it.

I could write a book about shard bombs. I nearly did once.

The problems bombing actually have

• Severely broken, unbalanced swords and guns overshadowing them. (Split damage swords, Blitz Needle.)
• Impact of CTR is too high. Fused Demo suit ultimately provides more DPS than Bombastic. You can have a gun or a sword with no damage, ASI or CTR. Using bombs without dedicated bomber equipment or Chaos is cumbersome and unrewarding.

Well, one of the problems is that there is not a very high skill ceiling. Well, at least that's what I've heard a long time ago. There is some planning in where you plant bombs, especially when you have friends that you don't want to screw up. However, if you're solo, then that problem goes away, making things easier.

While it doesn't entirely apply to Spiral Knights, this is what I intend on doing to bombs in my (sidescroller) fangame. Kicking and throwing would probably mess up the feel of bombs in Spiral Knights, and having bombs damage the player would make the bomb a suicide/troll weapon. The only one I find viable could be Short Fusing.

EDIT: @Holy-Nightmare: I wouldn't say 2%. If you're in an Arena, FV can cover a quarter of the room or so. And it doesn't really matter if it doesn't get the whole room as long as you're kiting those monsters into the haze.

"there are two purely offensive bombs right now, they are DBB and DR." -Thunder-The-Bright

Eugh well, true, except I wouldn't say they are the only "two purely offensive bombs." These, along with bombs like Nitro, are labelled as "offensive bombs."
However, you missed the point, the bombs you mentioned still has the area of effect circles, DBB has great knockdown for soft-bodied targets which I'd slap under CC, they're pretty normal bombs I'd say. Not much magic, really.
But most importantly; they deal bomb-tier damage like any other bomb.

I think Fehzor worded it quite well:

"With the newest handgun releases (tortoguns, mostly), I would say that there isn't an excuse to NOT to give bombers better single target options and ranged weapons." -Fehzor

What if they made a bomber armor set that wouldn't have great defenses but, would let you kick your bombs a bit after you placed them? Or maybe a set that would increase your move speed while charging? OOO could make a bunch of armors or shields that'd affect the way that you use bombs.

"bombs have circular AoE, that's how they work, it doesn't mean that every bomb is equal." -Thunder-The-Bright

Missing the point. I never said every bomb is equal, and I never mentioned vortexes. I'm just pointing at what's been pointed at before; if guns and swords gets to have a bit of fun outside of what they're strictly meant for, why not bombs. Why not make a bomb with no circular AoE, or one that actually has decent single-target-damage.

Looking back at my previous post, they're are only 4 types of bombs mechanics. A status focused bomb, a bomb that creates a vortex, a bomb that explodes into smaller ones, and just regular explosives. But rather than only making some armor sets that affect bombs, it would be nice to see bombs that work completely different than the others.

Like a bomb that when placed, would stick to any enemy that steps on it, and would detonate on them causing a larger explosion than if it wasn't stepped on. Or a bomb that after placed would chase enemies but would make you move slower when charging. And you can combine the sets with these bombs so you can kick the stickybomb to an enemy or move at a normal rate while carrying the bombchu.

then you want something new, not something inherently fun.
that being said, I don't think I remember any good ideas about new bombs. square AoE is just that, square AoE. there have been some "ring" bombs and quake bombs suggestions, but one is almost vortex and one is DBB.

Bomb bowling

bubba, I still believe that shard bombs have something like 3* damage on enemies that aren't weak to the damage you are dealing. I'm relieved from my decision to not craft a deadly shard bomb right now. I went for SSS.

Bunny Compounds are seriously my favorite thing ever. Haha.

I agree about Shard Bombs, they do seem weak - but they are not without their uses. And it's because I can actually say I have a use for them, where they are useful, that I say I don't mind things the way they are. I really like use them on Vanaduke or anything else I don't feel quite safe approaching in my typical suicide bomber manner.

Would I like to have them be more viable overall? Sure, why not. But as it is, I see the pantheon of bombs as an artist's palette - each with it's own individual usefulness.

But I'm crazier than an outhouse rat, so who really cares what I think!