Lolitian
hmm.. I know owlite is the standard, but I kinda wanted to go down a separate alchemy path because I've been using it on my other chars and I'm tired of the monotony.

I know this is probably not you want to hear but Owlite is probably the most balanced shield for bombers. The problem is that bombers don't have a good bomb answer to gun puppies which means that having a shield with elemental defense is helpful if you're lazy or not good at dodging elemental projectiles. Lumbers can be a particular challenge as well since bombing against one enemy is sometimes very inefficient. You end up having to be very close to the lumber, dealing lower amounts of damage and while there are bombing patterns that you can use, sometimes it leaves you vulnerable and the elemental defense on the owlite can be very helpful to tank lumber swings.

Despite the bad news I bring you, the good news is that shields really don't matter for bombers. The thing you need to remember is ABC, always be charging! Unfortunately you can't shield while you're charging a bomb (yet!) which means that the more you shield, the less damage or status you're spreading. It just snowballs from there since you're killing things more slowly which prolongs the fight, which leads to more scenarios where you might have to shield. I've cleared depths all the way to the core without a shield equipped at all. You just have to remember to be mobile and use what you have (read: crowd control bombs like shivermist, nitronome, graviton, etc) to protect you instead of relying being lazy with a shield.

The main thing you'll be using your shield for, as a bomber, is shield bumping enemies out of your way if you work yourself into a sketchy area of the map (i.e. pinned to a wall) so any 5* shield will serve you well. (supposedly 5* shields push further than lower starred shields <- has not been tested!!)

wait..if lumbers attacks are elemental, then what kind of attack is considered normal..o.O

also the damage source on wiki

http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Damage

includes lumbers, while thers only 1 lumber shown(http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Lumber -> ironwood sentinel), that deals normal damage..

im confused T.T(and why the heck is this http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Ancient_Plate_Helm normal defense :/..)