Spiral Knights - Blast Bombs, not many good choices.

Blast Bombs, not many good choices.

21 replies [Last post]

Sat, 06/06/2026 - 00:38

Estebag

Blast bombs
most of them do normal damage and stun status effect, but they are practically the same type of bomb just slower or chunkier

at the beginning of the game they give us blast bombs that do status effects like fire, freeze and even a shock one you get by buying the DELUXE Started pack (could use some love too)
but you don't get something like that later in the game
the only good options for blast bombs end game are theNitronome and Dark Briar Barrage
(which are really good options)

straight to the point, there should be more blast bombs that can do elemental and shadow damage, capable of doing the same amount of damage a regular blast bomb does (129 DMG, 70 fuse time), the bomber class could use some love when it comes to new bombs capable of doing other types of damage or status effects besides shard bombs (which are not great atm)
nothing feels better than blowing enemies away with a BLAST BOMB

i don't ask for much, I'm sure many people that love the demo-class would enjoy it and have fun with it, which is the whole point of having different stuff to play around with

keep up the good work devs, i hope the best for all of you.
thank for reading!

Sat, 06/06/2026 - 06:16

Bopp

agree

Nitronome and Dark Briar Barrage are great. It seems that no one ever uses Big Angry Bomb or Irontech Destroyer. I never use them, although I own them. It's not clear why Heavy Deconstructor exists.

The game needs a lot of balancing. The balance in the armors is much worse than the balance in the weapons.

Sat, 06/06/2026 - 18:10

Estebag

Indeed

Yes, i agree, something that needs to be deal with first is the armors, is a game about armor and knights, but they do a very poor job at protecting you from damage OR helping you with your weapons

one armor i want to be re-worked is the Plate mail, the "tank" armor of the game, that needs a variant with shadow protection wich is the only one missing, i wish it was truly an armor that could stand any type of attack and make enemies focus more in you rather than your team mates
that could be an interesting downside

Sun, 06/07/2026 - 18:15

Jcyrano

we don't need fifteen

we don't need fifteen different blast bombs either, We need to streamline the bob-oms to make sure they have a clear identity for them... Blast, Shards, Mist, Vortex... and DR... because that's the odd cousin...

Mon, 06/08/2026 - 05:58

Bopp

clear identity

Yes, we want each weapon to have a clear identity. Well said.

In other words, I don't like the idea of making Blast-style bombs to cover all of the damage types, with no other differences among them. It's better, when a weapon's damage type somehow synergizes with the behavior of the monsters vulnerable to that damage type.

A prime example is Callahan. It was one of my first 5-star guns, way back in 2011, because I was looking for a piercing gun that wasn't Blitz Needle. Callahan's charge attack should be massively powerful, like Iron Slug's and Winter Grave's. But most fiends and beasts are too dodgy for it. So I rarely use my Callahan, and I rarely hear about Callahan from other players.

The era around the 2014 gunner update was the high tide of the "let's make every combination" mindset. We had "Let's make Valiance in all four damage types". We had "Let's make 3 * 3 * 4 = 36 new gunner armors." And so on. It's not thoughtful design.

Mon, 06/08/2026 - 13:36

Draycos

The original anti-Devilite sidearm

Callahan is excellent against fiends if you stick to the normal attack as they cannot dodge it in time and it consistently flinches them, which is what I originally used it for on release myself. The charge attack is too unwieldy to land against devilites, but it works wonders against Gorgos when you can bait them near walls to limit their RNG swaying or Greavers when they're about to dash at you. Likewise, beasts cannot dodge the charge if you hit them while they're winding up an attack, and the small extra damage it does over Iron Slug lets its normals flinch wolvers more consistently, though it hasn't mattered ever since their tracking was gutted.

The real problem with Callahan is that Iron Slug already does so much damage and can be used indiscriminately, so it's rarely necessary to bring Callahan for pierce-weak enemies when they die in the same number of charge shots (one or two) or are already flinching on each normal shot, and the benefits are muted as a result. I still like to bring it to Heart of Ice where there are no enemies that resist Piercing, excluding the occasional Rock Jelly butting in.

I agree that the Gunner Update was poorly conceived. It would've made sense to see only one variation of Pathfinder/Sentinel/Shade with status resistances suiting the existing content they defensively matched instead of having four status variations and three damage variations (where I've not once ever seen anyone field anything but the general damage versions). What could've been three armors exploded into 36. Could've been something like Pathfinder with Poison/Freeze, Sentinel with Shock/Stun, and Shade with Fire/Freeze, but here we are.

Mon, 06/08/2026 - 17:05

Bopp

agree, but

You are right, that you can charge Callahan against beasts if they are winding up for their attack.

I have not had success charging Callahan against any fiends, but if you've made it work, then good.

You are right, that regular (non-charge) attacks work against fiends. But the damage per second is just not good at all.

We agree about the gunner armor.

Mon, 06/08/2026 - 21:51

Draycos

It's not always about the raw DPS, but how the damage - and flinch - is being applied. I essentially use Magnus normals like ranged combo finishers. Two swings of Hammer, swap to Slug/Callahan for one shot, swap back... Shutting up an Overtimer after you bait out a melee swing so you can keep pummeling them with your sword of choice is huge for momentum, especially when fighting multiple at once where safe uncontested openings are tough to come by without kiting them with long-range weapons or bombs.

I sincerely find Overtimers easier to control than standard Devilites with a Magnus or certain other weapons like Rocket Hammer or Turbillion, since while they boast higher damage and are far more aggressive, they have more exploitable patterns and tend to spread out less than their fearfully diving counterparts.

Tue, 06/09/2026 - 09:47

Jcyrano

You are right about it

I agree with You bopp on that the Gunners patch was a dis-array (to put it mildly) on de design aspect, It was clearly to either artificially extend gametime by having to find the correct recipe for the correct combination of what You have or want to do... or to cater at someone very specific gameplay taste, a ver specific someone...
"Let's make Valiance in all four damage types", "Let's make 3 * 3 * 4 = 36 new gunner armors." 2 very bad sentences...

Tue, 06/09/2026 - 14:56

Estebag

back to blast bombs topic

This is the problem for me, there are so many blast bombs that just do normal damage, and it has been proving that normal damage is really not effective, at least in some weapons (but is very effective on the iron slug)

i am not sure why all of they need to have normal damage, what i want is a blast bomb with elemental and shadow damage
the deconstructor could easily be changed to do elemental damage and gave it a 5 star upgrade
and another new blast bombs that deals shadow damage, these bombs do not need status effects
haze bombs already take care of doing status effects, these BLAST BOMBS should focus more on doing big damage and dealing with big crowds of enemies.

Tue, 06/09/2026 - 15:10

#10

Bopp

engage?

So you want Blast-style bombs in all four damage types. But have you read my post #4 above? Do you care to engage with that counter-argument?

Tue, 06/09/2026 - 19:33

#11

Estebag

I understand, but

i don't think that matters anymore, many other weapons like you said cover all 4 damages

the whole is that the blast bombs don't, all of them do normal damage and thats not good, is bad, it doesn't work
and also do STUN, stun this or stun that

the reality is that there aren't thoughtful weapons anymore, 2011 is not more, it is a different game with different people working on it.

2 new bombs with shadow and elemental damage is all i want, HELL, not even a shadow one, i would rather them turn the heavy deconstructor into a elemental blast bomb and i would be happy with it, it doesn't really need to cover all damage types but i would be happy with it if they did
thats about it, is not hard to understand.

Tue, 06/09/2026 - 20:06

#12

Bopp

not convinced

Just because weak game design happened in the past, that doesn't mean that we need more weak game design in the future. But yes, I do understand your words. Have a nice day.

Fri, 06/12/2026 - 18:23

#13

Jcyrano

You are right about it

And by You I mean Bopp, Bopp is clearly right about Poor design, Blast Should be Normal, we have Spine that is Piercing, Dark Retribution that is Shadow, Shards Should be revisited, remove the Knockback from the Outer ring shards and that would give us a decent elemental bomb...

Turning a Deconstructor elemental o making Big angry Bomb Shadow, wont help, If You want Blast get used to Normal, want shadow? use Dark Retribution, want Piercing? Use Dark Briar Barrage, each one have an Identity, can You respect that? Identity? it is Important... thats about it, is not hard to understand.

Fri, 06/12/2026 - 20:36

#14

Estebag

I understand, BUT

So, no elemental bomb just because, there isn't an identity to it, so there shouldn't be an elemental blast bomb, they can't they are not allowed to exist

Big angry bomb can stay how it is, i don't care that much about shadow blast bomb because the DR exist and is pretty good
the heavy deconstructor being ANOTHER normal blast bomb just makes no sense, it could be a decent elemental bomb and i dont see why not
it might remain how it is, and its sad because nobody is gonna use it when nitronome exist

i don't wanna get used to old stuff, thats the problem, old stuff does not work anymore, is antique, outdated, nobody uses them
thats the issue, i would gladly make a heavy deconstructor if it was elemental, but is just a worst version of the Nitronome

Sat, 06/13/2026 - 07:56

#15

Mawsite

personally

I would rather see more mechanically interesting bombs then status blast bombs, like the instant-place mines they showed way back in the promotional video.

Sat, 06/13/2026 - 09:40

#16

Estebag

Yes!

Oh was that on a beta of the game?

is it the same as the gremlin bombers? that would be sweet honestly, i welcome any type of new bomb
but of course, old gear should also be given a chance to shine

Sat, 06/13/2026 - 13:31

#17

Zeddy

@Estebag

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUMxpYLJQiM&t=48 48 seconds into the announcement trailer you can see basic attack bombs. I would've loved to try them.

Sun, 06/14/2026 - 08:49

#18

Estebag

Interesting! But hold on!

I think thats actually how bombs used to work before the game released, you didn't need to charge them before placing them

thats the old design for the proto-bomb Aswell, but i think it would be interesting to see something like that for a new style of bomb

im not sure if it would be good, if there was a bomb that did what the BLAST NETWORK bombs do it would be fun to see!
lets just let the devs work and see what they come up in the next years

Mon, 06/15/2026 - 10:27

#19

Jcyrano

If You want an elemental or

If You want an elemental or shadow blast bomb use the Vortex, there are 4 of them 2 elementals, 2 shadow... and You can't claim that they fling enemies because that's exactly what blast bombs do.. so, if the problem is the cost of them... blame the Predatory Designs of the loot boxes or the scarcity of resources and the Maniac behaviour of some part of the Community... and even less now that energy is low... there are new people trading those bombs.
But do not say that the bombs are bad just because You haven played them all... or You don't like te option list... It has always been at fault, Now is time to remove some of them YES remove them... and re introduce some Not all, with a better design, not the same crap with different colors (just like the blasters) or the poorly designed shards (which where broken and then re-done but handicapped because... I don't know(invinciticks) then fixed (invinciticks gone, YAY!) and still inconsecuencial).

And there is a reason why Bob-ombs have only charge attacks.. perhaps we should check that why before saying anything...
Zeddy You know how much damage a not-charge Darkbriar Barrage could cause... it would be unbalance... to say the least... or a constant Dark retribution... at attack speed high can Do... Do I want to try it?, NO, it would render the game Boring... and before anyone says Cooldown... that's exactly what Charge time is... time between bombs... and fuse time is attack speed (time between bombs explosion) and Attack speed on bombs would only make things worst or even worst, not even mater, making it a trap for people that rolls UV's... on a weapon tree that barely gets played, adding an obscure mechanic would cause people not engage or EVEN worst, the bomb reduced to nothing and left to root... like shards... SO yes we need change and is not being CHEAP and BASIC what that change must bring... we need a real change.
Because in the case of bombs the Worst thing that can happen is not Nothing... Is a "Change" that Changes Nothing at all...

Mon, 06/15/2026 - 22:20

#20

Zeddy

Valiance also deals a lot of damage with its charge attack, but this hasn't prevented Valiance from having a basic attack. Why would you say that is?

Wed, 06/17/2026 - 10:16

#21

Jcyrano

You are right about it

Area, the bombs have always cover Huge area, instead of focus damage! Guns where focused on damage AN enemy at range, Yes there are Exceptions... Pulsars (bombs with triggers) Sword is a compromise of Area but very close, Leviathan blade, yes there are Exceptions here aswell: Brandish (bombs with handles).

Do we want to be Innovatives? ok, let me try something, that SHOULD NEVER be Deploy.

Blast Bombs are instant damage. Normal Damage, we can identify what they do easily PvE and PvP. Exception Briar line, Instant damage But Piercing.
main focus is damage. Status application: stun as secondary effect.

Mist Bombs are Control bombs. Elemental damage, we can clearly see that they rely on Persistency, clearly recognizable.
main focus is Area of effect, status application. Damage as secondary effect. (Ash of Agni and Voltaic Tempest, doe to the nature of the status, no the bomb itself)

Vortex Bombs are persistent control. Shadow/elemental Damage. this use persistency as Crowd Control. Easily recognizable by size and effects.
main focus Control, secondary effect damage. Consider that the status of the most damaging bombs are status that Cause damage.

Shards Bombs they where a middle ground between blast and mist (designers words not mine), here allow me what if? we reduce the distance the shards travel and increase the radius they affect, this will cause the same Total area covered but better overlapping and overall damage. We are also using Persistency, how? the shards would do damage like the tortodrone's charge attacks ones, lasting few second dealing damage to then explode dealing also damage. Here we also avoid the Valiance situation by removing some of the Bombs, keep shadow/status, piercing/stun remove pure Damage bombs as Normal, elemental, shadow, piercing.

Now we need elemental bombs... what if? Deconstructor...

If we change Deconstructor line to be a "magnet" and not like a vortex, I mean a "bomb that has a primary explosion with a token amount of damage" that tags every enemy that was affected by that token amount of damage and then Would "explode" regardless of their position in a "small area around them"(Mist bombs damage radius) We would have a Different bomb, Visually distinctive (Very Important PvP and PvE wise), with a good damage... specially if the enemies group. Why i said "magnet"? well a "field of mines" that "magnetic-ly" latch on to enemies that traverse them (elemental are good against metalic constructs = perfect magnet targets... and Undeads because... well not as effective against undeads hence the Deconstructor family bonus damage). And taking into consideration that the Spine cone is named based on a boss. and is a blast bomb. the odd one. We could apply that naming Philosophy to the Deconstructor ones with the 5 Stars named MVB Mechanic-ly Voiced Bark or EMB Enhanced Mechanic Bark using the twins as reference (yes also both are MVP and EMP playwords)

and Dark Retribution is the bomb that prove us that damage can be adquired thru persistency, the really ODD bomb.

Why the Valiance have a Normal attack if have a decent a Charge one... design reasons. They made the basic attack and the charge attack as a cool move for the 3 branches of weapons, but the bob-oms became oppresive, so they remove the auto attacks... and worked well?... The same reasons why it now have the "colorme interested" versions in the Arcana, Riftlocker and Phantamos... but not worked as well?

Again this SHOULD NEVER be Deploy as is. We need a real change.
Because in the case of bombs the Worst thing that can happen is not Nothing... Is a "Change" that Changes Nothing at all...

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Blast Bombs, not many good choices.