Spiral Knights - How viable is bomb in two-slot for solo?

How viable is bomb in two-slot for solo?

9 replies [Last post]

Thu, 09/22/2011 - 13:26

Birgus

I like the status-inflicting bombs a lot, and have been thinking about working toward a solo-oriented bomb setup so I can play with them even more. After seeing some one use a Crystal Bomb to hit something none of my guns could reach, this notion has gone from "neat thing to explore later" to "OMG I must figure out how to solo with a bomb!" (I already understand that Crystal Bombs are a "love it or hate it" thing, and split damage like the Antigua upgrades.) This is kinda tricky for me, though, because I am only using two weapon slots until I have nothing else to spend on. I think this might be an opportunity for me to come out of my damage types comfort zone and get to know some of the Normal damage weapons...

I am leaning toward the Troika rather than the Calibur line, in part because I feel like everything else I've gravitated toward so far is pretty popular. I also want to get into a big slow sword since I have so far only learned to use Snarble and Brandish types, and I find the Troika's sound effect delightful. I read that its animation has a long vulnerable window even considering how slow it is, so I need to be very careful, but it hits really hard and has good range if not field of coverage. Are there any Troika fans here who can tell me whether it would combine well with a bomb in a 2-weapon loadout? Is this a sane approach? Also, is there much reason to go for stun over freeze other than that it's much easier to get?

The question is for combining one bomb and one non-bomb in general, not just these specific weapons. For co-op play I think it should be easy to cover all bases well, but for only 2 weapons to a party... I'm not used to thinking in terms of ONE general-purpose anti-everything weapon. Oh, I am using Magic Hood, Wolver Coat and Owlite Shield. I intend to upgrade to Divine & Skolver eventually for my primary armor.

Thu, 09/22/2011 - 14:14

Bopp

great

Great general-purpose armor choices. A normal sword and a bomb should be a manageable combination.

For accompanying swordplay, an obvious bomb choice is Shivermist Buster. Or maybe Electron Vortex/Graviton Vortex. But it sounds as if you're going for damage bombs such as Nitronome. Nitronome can irritate your teammates, but if you're solo then that's no problem. Great.

There is no question that the Leviathan is the most practical choice for someone soloing with only one sword. It does normal damage, it has good speed, and its charge attack is awesome. In particular, the charge attack is good for crowded rooms, which is exactly where guns and bombs can have difficulty. The charge attack's knockback can irritate your teammates, but that's no problem solo.

Leviathan is a handsome, comfortable, fuel-efficient, quiet, safe, reliable sedan with excellent handling; Troika is a noisy, fuel-guzzling, bone-jarring tank. But if you enjoy your tank, then that's great. :)

Thu, 09/22/2011 - 14:52

BiggestLoser

Legacy Username

Zelda

"The question is for combining one bomb and one non-bomb in general, not just these specific weapons."

weapons are too different even among their own categorys

of course anything is viable as long as u play good....different weapons serve the purpose of making it easier and funner for u, so get whatever u find easiest and funnest to play with id suggest

Thu, 09/22/2011 - 20:06

OverDingle

Legacy Username

If you're using a bomb and a

If you're using a bomb and a sword, the choices for bombs are probably these:

Shivermist - Freezes enemies in place to pick your sword targets easily
Voltaic Tempest - Works similar to shivermist; whenever shock is applied to a monster it can prevent attacks, and this bomb pretty much applies shock constantly.
Electron/Graviton Vortex - Groups the enemies into one spot, which is perfect for those high damage charge attacks.

The crowd control on those can support guns too, but guns could also benefit from a Nitronome to apply knockback to monsters.

If you want to use bombs as your main damage weapon, perhaps nitronome + hail driver - freezing monsters to safely place bombs (bonus: Frozen monsters aren't knocked back if you can maintain it, though a shivermist would probably better for that). I don't think you could go sword/bomb and get optimal use out of both weapons for raw damage, though.

On Troika - The line is extremely subpar (Speaking from experience - I have Triglav.) A full combo from a 2Hit sword does less damage to a single enemy than a 3hit sword's combo, and normally takes longer to do it and puts the user at greater risk. DA and GF are used mainly for the charge attack and GF's curse, which are better than the brandish equivalents by a good margin. Troika swords, on the other hand, never get a damage type advantage, and have a charge attack that takes forever to use and does as much damage as the basic combo - to an area that can be as small as the sword's swing range. Basically one of the most inefficient sword charge attacks in the game.

Fri, 09/23/2011 - 01:28

Altstav

It is..

In a 2 weapon for solo setup, the bomb that makes most sense is the Nitronome.
It has normal damage so it applies equally to every type of foe, a huge blast radious and an equally huge knockback, ie perfect for crowd control when you solo. You can clear wolver dens and arenas without actually getting any damage with it ( o_O ) since the wolvers tend to pop up behind you, precicely where you left the bomb you charged, and its big AoE ensures that you'll get most, if not all, the wolvers with every detonation, so it can outpace in total dps just about any sword in a closed space. No kidding.

It does irritate and obstruct teammates though, that's why mine is gathering dust for a while...
I put it out yesterday in a terminal along with two others while waiting for an AFKer, and with 3 people spamming Nitronomes, you basically couldn't see anything, and it was like a seizure-inducing recipe. Good stuff, I wish I was recording that XD.

The other 2 nice options are from the vaporizer line - Shivermist Buster and Voltaic Tempest, for reasons explained above, but then you'll have to rely on your sword to finish them off since they only do elemental damage and in a smaller radius than the mist they leave behind.

Fri, 09/23/2011 - 04:37

Sunday

Legacy Username

Ash of Agni is not a reliable

Ash of Agni is not a reliable option all the time, still it's useless in all fire zones, but I prefer that bomb to others for solo. I don't see the point of crowd control bombs when soloing, since it's easy to run in circle in most rooms dragging the mobs behind you without getting hit too much.
In arenas, graveyards and jelly palace, Ash of Agni is really devastating. It's also the lazy option : place bomb, run, place bomb, run... no need to switch weapons.

Shivermist takes it's full efficiency in partys where you can group mobs in the center for yours teammates to crush.

The problem with graviton or electron is that all the good crowd control work you do, is ruined by either the explosion of the bomb knocking mobs randomly, or by the charge attack done afterward, leaving you to regroup again all the mobs. I don't really like that.

If having the mobs following you like the Pied Piper of Hamelin is enough crowd control for you, then voltaic and ash of agni are superior to shivermist, because they do damage trough time. And the more the merrier.

Fri, 09/23/2011 - 06:40

Bopp

Sunday has a good point

Sunday points out that crowd control is often easy when soloing, because there are no teammates to mess up the flow of monsters. This is an extremely good point. For example, in old-style danger rooms I repeatedly saw bombers leave their teammates dead, while kiting all of the monsters alone, spamming Ash of Agni, and killing everything. This is an argument for carrying a damage bomb with your sword.

Fri, 09/23/2011 - 07:37

Facejuances

I go Sun shards all the way,

I go Sun shards all the way, with a faust just in case a slime appears... you don't have to worry that much on split damage or your slow 2-hit sword because enemies die rather quickly when alone.

Fri, 09/23/2011 - 10:53

NicoyaKitty

Legacy Username

Hell, even when I'm running

Hell, even when I'm running with only swords I'll sometimes leave my teammates dead and clear out the room myself if we're in the final wave of the third arena. It's just so, so much easier to kite-charge-kill in a circle over and over than to try to deal with teamies running the wrong way or knocking enemies into my path.

Sun, 09/25/2011 - 13:27

Birgus

Thank you!

I missed this topic earlier since it got bumped past the first page by the next time I logged on, and I plumb forgot to look for it to see replies. :(

Thanks all, esp. Bopp. I somehow failed to take note of people finding Levi annoying in teamplay. I am mostly interested in getting a Normal sword to support bombs because I want to find a way to start using a bunch of particular bombs that I find interesting; not just Nitronome. In fact, I am not very interested in Nitronome since it's ONLY for solo play in my mind. I was thinking status bombs and Crystal bombs in particular, but for DPS I am leaning toward DBB. (party-only) The whole point of my request is that I want to try some stuff I have not tried yet but am not sure how to do so in a sane manner; slow sword, more status bombs, and Crystal bombs in particular.

Levi is the obvious choice from an effectiveness perspective, at least until you told me that it bothers some people. I probably will prefer the bone-jarring noisemaker (I love the sound effect! "Thwunk!") if only because I can take it into a party without feeling so bad. I just tried a 2-hit gun (Magnus, and also due to the same eclecticism) and my first impression is that it's crazy fun, so I am going to go ahead and craft my Troika as soon as I feel like I have enough energy. I am not concerned nearly so much with the full combo damage as the 1-hit-less-than-full damage due to playstyle anyway, and crazy low DPS doesn't seem to hinder my having fun with the 2-hit gun- to the extent I am starting to wonder if I should have started with a slow sword instead of a Snarbie. The only concern seems to be that it is finicky and overshadowed by the Levi, so now I feel confident in what I am considering doing. Again, thank you all for the food for thought and helpful advice.

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How viable is bomb in two-slot for solo?