Craft more gun if you haven't done so. More gun is nice and your set up is fine for now.

If you really want to know the price of a Book of Dark Rituals, then post in the Bazaar forum.

What I can tell you is that a Book of Dark Rituals presents three kinds of value:
A. The owner of the Book of Dark Rituals gets a Black Kat Cowl.
B. Everyone in the party, including the owner, gets a bound Wicked Whisker. (There is no other way to get one. They can't be unbound.)
C. Everyone in the party, including the owner, gets the fun of fighting Margrel.

I can also tell you that, once you have a Book, three other players will each pay you 400,000-500,000 crowns to be in the party. Let's be conservative and say 400,000. Then the total value of a Book is your BKC + your fun + 1,200,000. For example, if you have 1,200,000 crowns, then you aren't anywhere near rich enough to buy a Book of Dark Rituals.

When the next Kataclysm comes around, farm it enough to get 70 Ancient Pages. Then get the 3-star helmet and see how it plays. The offense is just as good as the 5-star Black Kat armors', and the defense is only slightly worse. So it is a cheap way to try out the armor.

8,000 energy = 80 * 100 energy = 80 * 10,000 crowns = 800,000 crowns? If you see that price, then jump at it. Sell slots in your party for 400,000. You will earn 1,200,000 crowns and a BKC and a Wicked Whisker, based on an expenditure of 800,000 crowns, maybe even on the same day. That's some insanely fast and large profit. If that is possible, then the market is WAY out of equilibrium.

We've had lots of threads about this over the years, which you can find by searching Google for something like "book drop rate site:forums.spiralknights.com" (without the quotation marks). For example, here is a pretty good one. About 1 in every 75 spookats spawns as a black kat, and about 1 in 100 black kats drops a book. Keep in mind that there is a lot of uncertainty in those estimates.

so the going solo strat does that still work or did they patch that?

I don't know.

if it is on average 1 in 75 to get a Bk and then 1 in 100 to get a book how much grinding would that take?

The original post in the thread that I linked explains all of that. 20 spookats per Candlestick Keep. And you need 75 * 100 = 7,500 spookats. So 375 Candlestick Keeps, or thereabouts.

1 / 7500 is about 0.00013, which equals 0.013%. Cheers.

Use a Combuster. If you don't have one, make one?

I think that the original poster is deliberately a gunner, not a sworder or hybrid.

Yes, you read correctly. Damage damage damage. But you failed to see Chaos+Swiftstrike Buckler provides all DMG/CTR and ASI...

And from a veterans point, it's definitely a mistake to not do research and not go with Chaos if you plan going long term. The proper blueprint for me is to work with the best set that the game provides and I can afford. Then work backwards to inferior junk that I like. And maybe I am underestimating beginners for the connection or machine performance not being there for them, but that doesn't mean they can't explore and recognize how footwork is extremely important.

I hate to break it to you, I think I understand this game well enough to go against anything what the game says lol... I'll head out with unorthodox weapons and gear sets out of boredom and put finesse in the basics of the phrase "don't get hit." Using the strongest aspects in the game that people seem to always skip, footwork, weapon mechanics, switching mechanics and rhythm. If you see my LoA prestige video, it demonstrates just that.

If you're going to wear resistance armor, might as well give up gunning and buy a vog set with a sword and hit and get hit by slags and getting caught on fire... Why do you think guns are ranged weapons... To go close to enemies and get hit while shooting? Gunners with resistance is just as weak as one without. People who make the poor choices often whine later that they should have made something else because they later whine about the expenses and the time crafting new equipment lol...

and Bopp I meant footwork for mobility not MSI. My fault... But yes VH MSI is a treat to have :)

Was talking to Nuclear about the set up, not to you Bopp.

And Nuclear, in short anything you have is fine in my book. Everything is doable, the only difference is time completions. I am only a player that follows whatever is quick and most efficient. We can argue what is the best and what skill a player has. What is already said from people is what it is. The only thing left is to work on fundamentals like kiting, and game mechanics. You don't need to know the entire wiki to get the job done right lol.

And Bopp, I just think newbs are upset because of their connection usually. I am just guessing but this game isn't friendly anymore for how it's currently designed unlike before, and you know what I am talking about lol. simply telling they should go glass first will make it easier for them to get their dream costumes. Thats if the heating and crystal doesn't kill them first...

No-more-light... your key immunity is correct but prestige isn't something that should be heavily looked upon or to consider... It's just prestige, a worthless way to keep veterans out of haven and fsc and to obtain pointless badges... I still feel as though the many who quit because of the toaster servers was their best call. All I remember even people with the best sets for a particular map still gets destroyed at least once every level. I would never count on a 1-2 barrer to do C42 without losing 50 sparks with fire/psn set... So let's be realistic here lol.

I'd quit and play Gw2. It's too expensive for someone with horrible connection to inherit the best sets for specific levels.

Guild Wars 2

That's a great set. The next thing to work for is MSI. You can get up to +3 easily, using the Swift Steps II sprite perk and the 3-star Black Kat helmet. Of course, that will require other changes in your configuration. Cheers.

Unless you just want to be a hipster, don't get Mad Bomber. Many people have posted this before, but Mad Bomber is a direct down-grade from the Chaos set: Mad Bomber has all of the same status weaknesses as Chaos (minus curse, which almost never appears anyway) but its damage bonus and charge time reduction only apply to bombs, unlike Chaos whose buffs effect all weapons. So instead of Mad Bomber I would recommend the Chaos set unless you aren't that good at dodging- if so I would recommend Volcanic Demo, as it doesn't have any status weaknesses and resists fire.

To address your weapon choices, DBB is great and is essential for any pure bomber. Shivermist Buster is a less good choice: it helps make the Vana fight easier, but if I was going to go for any mist bomb I would go for Voltaic Tempest first. The shock deals massive damage to clumped up enemies and does wonders towards crowd control- most people prefer a Voltaic Tempest for crowd control over Shivermist. DR is a great bomb, it pumps out the most DPS out of any other bomb towards constructs and slimes.

Other bombs I would strongly recommend would be the Nitronome, Electron Vortex, and Venom Veiler. The Nitronome deals great damage and its knockback is incredible for regaining control of any situation, but don't use it too often when you are in a party, as the blast is distracting and the knockback can destroy your teammates. The Electron Vortex is excellent for grouping up enemies allowing you or your teammates to deal massive damage to anything sucked up with various other weapons like brandishes, and its shock can keep the enemies grouped together after the explosion and deal massive damage. The Venom Vieler is the definition of a support bomb and makes dealing with menders much easier. The poison prevents enemies from healing and turns the potential heal into damage as well as decreasing their defense and damage.

The Obsidian Vortex is also a good choice instead of the Electron Vortex as the poison is useful, but it really isn't as good as the Electron Vortex. What I did was play Blast Network whenever I saw some people queued to get my krogmo coins. You don't have to do the farming all at once- I spent around 3 months of playing Blast Network every once in a while until I got the bomb recipes, but it is well worth it. Until then the Obsidian Vortex is a good bomb to have (and even after then), and in some occasions like vs gremlins it is even better than the Electron Vortex.

For shields, since there aren't any that specifically buff bombs, you want to look for a shield with strong status defenses. I would start with Grey Owlite as it blocks both shock (which is annoying) and fire (which is prevalent in FSC). Other choices would be the Volcanic Plate Shield, which has an incredible amount of health and fire resist, or the Dread Skelly Shield, which resists the only other two common statuses: Freeze and Poison. What I crafted was the Grey Owlite Shield, and then much later when I had all the other bombs and weapons I cared about I crafted the Dread Skelly Shield to have choices for resisting every common status.

I recommend reading the bomber guide (http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Bombing_Guide) and maybe the shieldbearer guide (http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Shieldbearer_Guide). If you still have any questions I and I'm sure several other people will be happy to answer.

As Tapproot explained, Mad Bomber's only value is in aesthetics and role-playing a bomber. But okay.

The poison vortex bomb is nearly as well-respected as the shock vortex, but not quite. To learn more, search Google for something like "vortex bomb site:forums.spiralknights.com" (without the quotation marks). You will find many threads.

Bombers choose a shield using the same criteria as everyone else: abilities (ASI, etc.), status resistances, health, damage protection (less important than status resistance, because of how damage is calculated on shields), and maybe enhanced bash (only on the tortodrone shields). So consider Swiftstrike Buckler, to give your bombing animations a little more speed. But otherwise choose your shield to match the status threats you're facing.