Polaris shouldn't be a real problem with Merc Demo set. You can skip right through the bullets with the dash, if you didn't know. BAB isn't really the best bomb out there for LD so you might want to replace it with Nitro. You might want to tell us what your most commonly used class is.

It's only worth it if you want to win matches. If you don't care about such a trivial detail and would rather focus on the important aspect of Lockdown, which is damage, then bombs will only sometimes be able to support you in your goal, and even then it's best if someone else uses them so you can focus exclusively on the damage-dealing.

Bombing is totally legit. You have to time your charges and predict opponents just like any other class, and you'll nearly always want to flock to where most of your team is. I personally favor the nitronome more then any other bomb.

As a recon swordie on my end, spamming that thing really discourages strikers to try to beat you with the latency/camera angle advantage attacks. If you time it right you can vanish during the blast and give them less of a clue as to where you're headed. BAB is just a bit too slow in between charges, and the additional damage it gives doesnt make up for the protection of the nitro.

Bombers in general are an obsticle. A striker vs striker or recon is one thing, but a bomber shows up and throws a curve ball into the whole play style. People become more cautious when dashing south into the blind camera area, change gear to fit the bomb they have to walk over, or you'll sometimes have 2-3 of the enemy team spend a solid minute trying to kill you which is VITAL. Even if they do succeed. I personally think it takes people out of their comfort zone.

Yep. Bombing is basically all about "stalling" the enemy team. I've yet to master that... i'm used to getting high damage as swordie striker so I always forget to "stall" the enemy team. But with practice, you'll have players posting on the forums like "Jungle-Sword is such an annoying bomber please ban him" or something like that xD Not necessarily "banning" you but the point is you can be a prodigy without scoring high damage. It's all about the "stalling".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxdvBFCwBys
Example of a bomber carrying our team with area denial. Sometimes a good support character is all you need to carry your team.

The most common mistake bombers recieve is mist bombing. Not only is mist bombing sometimes risky, but bombing also contains blast bombs, shard bombs, vortex bombs, and more. I actually have a dream bomber idea. Mercurial Demo suit/helm + elite boom module + elite bomb focus module + guardian/recon skill + level 10 bombs. You'll have Attack dmg bonus VH, CTR Max, and movement speed med. You can use any bomb at level 10. Level 10 because you'll get maxed out ctr with level 10. I don't recommend Volcanic Demo in LD (I use it, though) unless you decide to have fire resist and/or want to go striker. Bombastic demo helm/suit is also on par with mercurial because you'll get dmg bonus max, but you won't have shock resist max and any movement speed inc.

Heh, Recon comes in good use they say.

@ Jungle-Sword: No. VT is perfectly fine. You just need to work "around the edges" if you know what I mean. Like, take advantage of Recon. Also, mix-and-match. Throw in a sword to your loadout. I play with BAB and a Warmaster Rocket Hammer and it's amazing.

@offense armor
Guardian class gives low resistance to all of them, which is why I like guardian.

@op invest in some ctr on your VT, and grab a SS just in case there are shock immune people in your game.
A good sidarm is FF for the speed and knockback, however you might want a valiance/AP just in case somebody is kiting you. I know huntr never brought a gun, but that's because he can dodge everything .

Sorry double post, but damage is not an important factor as a bomber, caps aren't even important, only one cap, its about being a good support player, bombers are arguably the most important asset to a team. In a way, the less caps you have, the better you're doing, l usually end up with less then 500 damage at the end of matches, and only 1 cap. If you've got a high number of caps, while holding a point, it means you're dying too much and letting the enemy cap the point you're meant to be holding, and then you're go back and recapping it. If you've only got 1-2 caps, it means you're doing a good job of holding the point you're sitting on and not letting the enemy near it. If you've got high damage, it means you're using your sword too much, when you should be using your bombs more. I rarely swing my sword during matches, even when l'm being hammered by 3-4 people, l stick to just weaving around with bombs until my team can get to me and help. Bombers are support players, guns will be your worst enemy but l do fine dodging any gun, and l'm from Australia, the worst country when it comes to latency, so if l can do it, you should be able to too. As Blueflood said, it's all about keeping the enemy distracted, the more players they have trying to kill you to get you off the point, the less players your team has to deal with to get the rest of the points. The more time you are able to stay alive and keep those players distracted, the more time your team has to take all the caps and then come to your aid, l had one match where l literally held off the entire enemy team from the 50 point mark all the way to 500 (end game), sadly all the players on my team but 1 had left, and that guy didn't even bother capping, but you can see how useful it would have been if l had had a proper team, free caps all over the map without any opposition.

Fayeth brough up a a very good point. Bombers should pay little to no attention to the stats at the end of the game. You know what you did, and a greatfull teammate will give you their thanks.

That being said I'd really like to have this bring some awareness to people fighting bombers. If it's more then 1 or 2 are attempting to slay the single bomber, you should weigh how far or behind your team is ahead before joining in that fight. It's pretty regular to see swordsmen with no damage bonus on their guns trying to chip away at a strong guardian shield. Bombers love that stuff.

The set that l suggested l think would be better, specifically Mercurial Demo Set (doesn't need any uv's), two out of this list: Voltaic Tempest, Staggerstorm, Venom Veiler, Shivermist Buster (highly recommended to have ctr med but ctr low works fine, ctr med bombs aren't expensive at all), either a Final Flourish or Barbarous Thorn Blade as your secondary quick arm, and either a Gran Faust or a Divine Avenger as your secondary heavy arm. You can also decide to carry three bombs and if you do, l recommend you carry a sealed sword as your backup. Your trinkets should be heart trinkets, its almost a necessity. Bombers who don't carry heart trinkets only survive because of two reasons, the first is because they have a good team to support them, the second is because they're up against players who don't know what they're doing. Sure you'll have the occasional guy who thinks he's good because he doesn't have any uv's or heart trinkets and survives fine, that's only because he's good an op team, put him with a team that is average, and he'll drop like a fly.

Stick to having a flourish and heavy sword, don't get a gun.

Guardian gives ctr low to bombs, asi low to swords, and medium bonus to all statuses.

To be immune to mist bombs as guardian, you need to have a max + a low resistance of whichever status, whether it'd be from armor and uv's armor alone, or uv's alone, you need the above stated combination to be immune, as a guardian. If you have any questions about guardian bombing, just message me in game.

I get the preference for guardian + heart trinks. I also grant that my style of mist bombing isn't the norm...

I find that for random LD I don't need heart trinks. I need multiple loadouts that provide me with the means to cap point, and take out players when convenient (or on my point).

I actually hardly ever use heart trinks as a recon bomber. I use sword ASI... I may not use my sword as often, but when you're up against a striker you need all the help you can get. I also forgo the shock resist in favor of a bkc and skolver for sword dmg. While I don't care about the numbers, it's the best way to get rid of that person that just won't let you get on with bombing happily. I carry a gun for blocks and other bombers, and the ap/sentenza is the hardest to dodge for a bomber with the best combo of range and bullet speed.

I carry a GF, a sentenza, and two bombs... I mix them depending, but my main loadout is shiver/ vt. I put shiver aside for a time, but then chaos and other armors got popular, and I got to have the sheer pleasure of making popsicles/ occasionally neutralizing an opponent while I cap. there are those that are immune to shiver or vt, or both... but that's when I change to aoa or ss or vv or even nitro.

Why recon? b/c I can hide. Never underestimate the value of being able to slide by a wall of gate campers and draw them away to a far platform so your team can get out. Also, you know those Polaris thingies? -- stay close to them, don't run away and dodge... there's far less dmg and no knockback up close, and only the best at weapon switching can get that sword out in time to smack you as you run up and put a bomb in their face.

Regardless of class, the best advice I can give any bomber is learn to dodge. Keep moving erratically. The more annoying you are to hit, the longer most players will try to hit you, and that is the absolute joy of mist bombing... and the best way to support the team.

Note: it's really bad form to bomb a gate, it's on par with Polarising a gate and worse imho than gate camping. Then again, I have non-traditional opinions on gate camping anyway, as I don't participate, either when it's my team or the opposition. I'll take my krogmo for a loss without providing entertainment for those that do.

Like I said I'm not the typical setup.

-I am more than willing to forgo the extra health and shield for the ability to move near invisibly through the map and have a good chance to get back to heal when someone gets through the mist.
-I don't need ctr on bombs, and I can use asi instead for any sword (I have voltedge and FF as well), and my setup allows me the advantage of surprise... everyone sees a Guardian comin', and they will wail on you before you even get a chance to lay down that first bomb.

Use guardian, it's a good option, but if you're using BaB realize that while charging you move SLOW, even with the msi of Merc Demo. Get in a lot of practice with whatever your sword of choice, you'll need it more than you think.

As for Polaris, even with the knockback resist, that shield's gonna come down and the you're exposed. I personally worry more about alchemers and ap/sentenza. Biohazard and Callahan are another two that you need to practice dodging, that shield bubble will burst.

@Fayeth: ...

@Jungle: No matter what set you start with - and I like that you're experimenting for yourself - you'll end up finding your own style and way of bombing.

As a guardian, find a sword you are comfortable with. You will need it. Practice swing-shield-swing, for those times that you get caught in a corridor or miss a bomb placement. Also, don't be afraid to die, and die a lot until you learn ways to stay up and out longer; it really isn't the end of the game or the world, but maybe that's the casual-fun side of me talking *grin*.

Strikers will get at you, Recons will get at you. There will be those that have resistances and weapons that will slice right through whatever protection or health you have... And the shield isn't going to last when under a constant attack for long. The swing-shield/shield cancel-swing practice is something all classes practice. Keeping yourself from comboing and leaving your guard down is always desirable when close fighting.

Unless you have CTR Med-High UV bombs now, you will want the Elite Bomb Focus Module to begin. As a guardian it will give you CTR Ultra with Level 10 bombs. Ideally you will want to have CTR Low UVs on all your bombs with Merc Demo + Elite Bomb Focus - you will notice the difference with CTR Max in play... And you will have a much harder time if you only have CTR High (Level 10 Bombs + Guardian Bonus) without the Elite Bomb Focus!

On another note: Guardians heal themselves and other players, don't forget to do both!

Hope to see you in LD!

Rete can l have a white rose set for my birthday this year:D I wub you <3 (It's in 26 days *hinthint*)