Spiral Knights - Killing Greavers as a Bomber (with 500+ ping)

Killing Greavers as a Bomber (with 500+ ping)

10 replies [Last post]

Sat, 11/19/2011 - 20:39

Ween-Bot

Greavers are always a huge problem for any party, but I can easily get incapacitated by one or two because:
- High ping means that shielding as soon as a Greaver starts an attack is useless, and I still get hit through my shield
- Being a bomber, I obviously can't shield cancel a bomb charge and block because of the above
- Greaver mist. Even if I block beforehand the odds are I'll get stunned, set on fire or worst of all shocked. (Shock + 500 ping = instant death)

Obviously bombs aren't an optimal choice here. In a party it's not such a problem as other players will naturally occupy Greavers' attention (and more often than not, die). Because of their large hitboxes, if you can have a Sun Shards (or RSS which I hope to have soon) prepared and lay it down in front of you, any Greavers that attack straight afterwards will be hit by all 8 shards. This is really my best strategy but it's also incredibly risky. Freeze bombing also works but the longer charge time means that I will more likely than not be interrupted by a Greaver attack and be unable to avoid it. I do have a Sealed Sword which works okay (using a slow sword isn't making it easier, I guess).

Any suggestions? My current loadout is:
Helm: Heavy Demo Helm
Armour: Fused Demo Suit
Shield: Boosted Plate Shield, +Elemental Def Low
Weapons: Sealed Sword, Freezing Atomizer, Sun Shards +Beast Low

Sat, 11/19/2011 - 21:02

Hyperonn

Well.....

Have you tried the Spine Cone line? It's a pure piercing bomb line that absolutely rips apart fiends. At first it might be tough to use because it has a small radius in the lower stars, but as you upgrade it, it gets pretty helpful. HOWEVER, I hear that the fuse is a little long. I have never used this bomb, so I'll need someone else to tell how effective the spike bomb is against Greavers + 500 ping.

Sat, 11/19/2011 - 23:29

Nicoya-Kitty

I don't have 500 ping, but

I don't have 500 ping, but here you go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SryT2LskrE

Giving up a bit of CTR in exchange for some shadow armour might be advisable. Bomb Focus modules are your friend.

Sun, 11/20/2011 - 12:45

Qazxedcv

Simple solution

Use your sun shards
All you need to do is plant the bomb; lure greaver towards bomb, watch shards interrupt/kill greaver; repeat
While your ping might affect how many shards you can reliably hit them with, you should be able to manage one per salvo

Sun, 11/20/2011 - 12:38

Juances

I see you carry a sword....

go with sun shards but always keep runing, never stop . Of course having all 8 hits would be perfect, but as long as you can stay alive only dealing 1, you'll be fine.

Sun, 11/20/2011 - 14:12

Flists

You could use Sun shards, but

You could use Sun shards, but those take some practice.
You could get a spine cone bomb.
You could get a piercing sword, if you're desperate. They're fast and good on fiends.

Sun, 11/20/2011 - 20:41

Culture

Hmm

My solution to dealing with Greavers is to continuously drop Shivermist then let the rest of the party hit them. This works for Devilites too. If I'm by myself though, I'll put down a Shivermist before they see me, then lure them in and finish them with a sword charge attack. In arenas it is important to have Shiver down before they spawn. Levi, BTB or Final Flourish should kill them in one charge when solo.

I think that Nitro is a better choice among the blast bombs for Greavers. The long fuse of DBB and lack of knockback complicate its use against Greavers, although it is pretty awesome for Devilites. Eeks did a video comparison between Nitro and DBB a long time ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmQxMvxDlIo#t=1m
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/9924#comment-63392

Sun, 11/20/2011 - 22:03

Myllakka

The one and only time I

The one and only time I killed greavers with only bombs was with an AoA. I just gathered them into a herd and dropped AoAs all over the place. Not actually a very good strategy, since they can and will hit you, but it worked out okay in the end. Nitro, like someone mentioned upthread, or DBB would probably work better. I don't generally do Fiend strata with bombs, unless it's to Shiver spam. Maybe bring a piercing sword (or a faster one) the next time you find yourself alone.

Mon, 11/21/2011 - 17:50

Iaena

I assume you are thinking

I assume you are thinking about soloing? If not, Culture was right: just spam Shivermist (or Voltaic Tempest for the freeze resist ones), and your party should take care of them.

If you can get the hang of switching bombs, the best way to go is to carry a Shivermist and a Dark Briar Barrage, then alternate. it's the best of both worlds... also very effective against wolver packs and devilites.

If not, use the Shivermist and kill them with a sword. Or in desperation, just kill them (very) slowly with the Shivermist itself... the center charge does do damage.

In any case, to charge the bombs, just look for things to run around (blocks, walls, party members, other enemies, etc.) or in general never run in a straight line. Grievers need a straight line to attack.

Tue, 11/22/2011 - 04:49

Ween-Bot

Thanks for the suggestions

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

I do use Sun Shards okay against them but only when there aren't 4+ of them on me at once. If so there's not much I can do because even though they attack in a group, their attack timing is spread too wide for me to shield bump all of them. That means I get hit by their mist and pretty much no charging bombs for me. Most of the times that they catch me out are in Arenas. The combination of various turrets plus a lack of cover means that you have to keep moving in a predictable pattern.

I don't usually have a Blast Bomb or Spine Cone line because I run with 3 slots, since I really hate not having projectiles (other account is a Gunslinger...) I end up with Sword - Vaporiser - Sun Shards.

@Culture: I watched that video, some hilarious moments with being frozen through the barrier by Greaver mist, then the Greavers coming through somehow. >_> It's great fun watching all the bomb chains that perfectly cancel Greaver attacks without having to shield, but as a free player without 5* gear, UVs or trinkets I'm not sure how feasible it'll be for me. That and having to predict attacks 0.5-1 seconds before the warning animation.

Tue, 11/22/2011 - 06:09

#10

Kraanx

OMG 3,14.

´bout that sword slot.... maybe a heavy sword could do the job, cuz its wide reach will hit like 4/5 gravers at once, and if they circle you you can always turn around using the 2nd swing..
now, back to bombs...
try running away from greavers after their first dive,then charging teh bawmb when theyre still far, then wait for them to come only a little closer (so theyll close in on you but not have time to do the attack/mist), quickly plant the bomb,stay where you are and shield. the shards will hit them as they swarm you, and if its a radius bomb itll hit too,and you might get a chance to do it again. as for other monsters, i cant offer any advice, but always kill whats attacking you first, never the easy target.
(yeah that last one was lame).

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Killing Greavers as a Bomber (with 500+ ping)