Spiral Knights - Crystal Bombs

Crystal Bombs

5 replies [Last post]

Wed, 04/27/2011 - 12:20

iammandler

Legacy Username

So, I just found a Crystal Bomb recipe and, being a bomber, snatched it up and crafted it. I then went through T2 of the new gate (not in t3 yet), using it and my fiery vaporizer mk 2 - I was trying to get a freezing vaporizer crafted, but trade chat is hilarious and people kept saying "I'll craft it" and then when I got to them and gave them the mats they without fail would say something along the lines of "Wait, I thought you wanted a Tempered Calibur" and my friends got impatient so I just joined them without looking at the gate map. This was a mistake. Everything was either a jelly, or fire and/or construct, so my bomb lineup was less than ideal. The arena was particularly brutal, but we made it through the whole tier with maybe one res, and during that especially ruthless run I got to learn the ins and outs of the crystal bomb.

Basically, I want to like it.

I couldn't get more than 3-4 shards off on a Lichen Colony, even with him trying to tackle me, but maybe I wasn't getting the timing right. It was only doing 27 or so a shard, but if I could land all 8 shards that would easily outdamage an elemental bomb. I liked it on the one hiring freeze level we did, and it was useful against wolvers, too, but never more useful than my Khorovod.

I have a Sun Shards recipe, so I searched the forum for crystal bomb and sun shards threads, and opinions seem split on the usefulness of this bomb line. So, I just wanted to make a topic to get more people's opinions in a single place on the crystal bomb line.

Obviously, the sun shards line is supposed to wreck fiends, and I have found Greavers to be really annoying as a bomber. I also imagine they'd be able to wreck Trojans, and spamming them against imps (my least favorite enemy) seems effective, too. But does this make it worth it?

People seem to like the Rock Salt line less, I guess because it doesn't have the high damage vs. a particularly annoying group of enemies, but doing normal + piercing makes serviceable against the two groups of enemies weak to piercing, and the extra damage vs. jellies seems like it would bump up its damage vs jellies to at least average. Also, shock.

Basically, discuss?

Wed, 04/27/2011 - 14:18

Shani

Legacy Username

Disclaimer: Not a serious

Disclaimer: Not a serious bomb user.

I picked up bombs as I can't gun [no mouse] and wanted something I could use while kiting. I have rather mixed feelings about it-- the very long range of the shards [same as gunpuppy/thrown items, I believe] makes it handy at the expense of it not being a radial weapon; the individual shards have to connect.

With the intent that I picked up bombs, I rather wish I went Ionized Salt, if only for the shock effect to aid in my running around in circles. (Or, an entirely different line to begin with. ><)

Wed, 04/27/2011 - 12:43

Kawaii_Desu

Legacy Username

Ionized Rock Salt Bomb

Ionized Rock Salt Bomb charges too slow to be of any use.
Even with full demo gear.

You'd have to get charge reduction UV's to even use it that much.

I don't think a bomb is worth it if you MUST have UV's to even use it.

Wed, 04/27/2011 - 13:01

Dalakor

Legacy Username

The whole line is complete

The whole line is complete garbage in its current state and i'd advise you to stay away from it

The Ionized tooltip is WRONG, it does 100% piercing damage (look at the damage vs constructs/slimes ), it charges 2 times slower than the previous version, the shock chance doesn't even compare to the atomizer line (even though they both have "good chance").

The Ionized line, even though it has high damage vs slimes it does pathetic damage (<20-25 damage at level 1-3 of the shards in t2, haven't tested against t3 slimes but i doubt it'll be much better) and it's better at slaying fiends than the fiend slaying bomb (sun shards)

Both the lines are completely terrible because the only things they're good against are big slow/stationary targets because you can hit them with multiple shards from a bomb; most of those are constructs (great thing they both deal a ton of piercing damage amirite?) and are otherwise easily taken out with every other weapon easier and/or faster. Vs normal enemies you'll be lucky if you hit 1 because anything past the point of origin will probably slip between the cardinal points anyway.

Wed, 04/27/2011 - 14:14

iammandler

Legacy Username

Well, Sun Shards is

Well, Sun Shards is Pierce/Element so it does normal damage (if that's how it works) against constructs, and landing at least half the shards IS pretty significant damage...

I didn't know that about the 4* rock salt's charge time, though, that kind of sucks.

Wed, 04/27/2011 - 15:18

Dalakor

Legacy Username

It doesn't do normal damage

It doesn't do normal damage because the resists reduce more damage than the weaknesses add. Also landing 4 shards needs the precision of a surgeon and being in the server room; more often than not you'll land 1-2 (3 vs stationary turrets or the blue fiends in point blank range if you play with them enough so you know where to place the bomb)

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