Spiral Knights - Updating Bombastic and Mad Bomber Demo (again)

Updating Bombastic and Mad Bomber Demo (again)

10 replies [Last post]

Wed, 10/16/2013 - 09:35

Fourtarkus

I know that OOO tried to update Bombastic Demo, but they really did nothing in the grand scheme of things. Also, after the chaos update, there is little reason to opt for any of the bombing suits, other than Mercurial. After talking with some dedicated bombers, I think that these are the kind of adjustments that would be: wonderful to see, easy to implement, refreshing for gameplay, and with more options inevitably means potential energy spent.

New Bomb only UV's introduced:

Bomb Fuse Length Reduction (Reduces fuse time by 6% for each point, up to 6 acquired)
Bomb Area of Effect Increase (Increases area of effect by 6% for each point, up to 6 acquired)

Justification: These UV's would give incentive for bombers to use something other than Chaos for playing. The fuse length reduction and AoE increase would be most noticeable on the bigger, slower bombs, like BAB, the vortexes, and Irontechs. Arguably, this would also make mist bombs more annoying, and I suppose they would, but with regards to Lockdown, I think more players have already figured out what they need.

The new suits

Mad Bomber:

Keep the status penalties
Bomb CTR High to each piece
Bomb DMG High to each piece
Bomb Fuse Length reduction low on each piece

Mad bomber would now be set apart from Chaos with higher damage and immediate ctr max on unheated bombs.

Bombastic:

Keep frost resist,
add stun, and fire penalties
Give Bomb CTR Low to each piece
Bomb Fuse Length reduction med on each piece
Bomb Area of Effect increase med on each piece

Time to see lots of big explosions.

Volcanic:

Keep the fire resist
Bomb CTR High to each piece
Bomb Fuse Length reduction low on each piece
Bomb AoE increase low on each piece
Bombs have chance to cause strong (FoV) fire upon explosion

These changes would lend well to it's name sake.

Maybe these aren't perfect, but I know I'm not the only player with bomber gear that's collecting dust and it would certainly make some lesser known bombs more entertaining and viable. Someday Mad Bomber, you shall be useful again.

Wed, 10/16/2013 - 10:03

Daili

I think a few tweaks would be

I think a few tweaks would be needed.
Like for mad bomber seems like the type of armor to have everything, but with a sever drawback.
So maybe have the med fuse time and area of effect on it with maybe some additional status vulnerability that isn't on there.

While the bombastic seems to be focused mainly on increasing damage, maybe just a med area of effect but no fuse time reduction.

And on the other hand, volcanic demo armor seems to be focused on time reduction for bomb placement, so maybe no area of effect and med fuse time reduction.

But hey, hopefully there's a bomber update.

Wed, 10/16/2013 - 11:36

Bitsbee

EDIT: You're no fun...

Wed, 10/16/2013 - 10:53

Exerpa

Volcanic is one of the best

Volcanic is one of the best standard sets, if you consider bomb ctr to be a significantly more game changing effect than say, Vog sword asi.
Bombastic usually doesn't get a look in due to its comparatively niche role if you already have Volcanic. Considering they tweaked the bomb buff stats on both of them at one point, it boggles the mind as to why they didn't make one (Bombastic) into a shadow or piercing set. And why Mercurial wasn't a pierce set from day one, god only knows.

I agree that the Chaos buff was a huge... "richard" move on OOO's part, but I don't think inventing a bunch of exotic new bomb modifiers is needed to resolve the imbalance.
You want to keep Mad and Chaos at opposite ends of the berserker spectrum? Do this for each Chaos piece: http://i.imgur.com/YRgkJs4.png
If you consider bombs to be the equivalent of magic spells in other games, then this has the effect of allowing Chaos to be a powerful melee AND ranged fighter at the expense of destroying its spell casting. Should a supposedly 'glass cannon' barbarian gunslinger also be a master sorcerer? I would have to vote No.

Of course if you want to be a simple ctr demo and are willing to forgo the damage buffs for comprehesive defense, remember that crafting krogmo trinkets is extreamly cheap now if you have a stack of 5* orbs on hand. Make 2 bomb focus trinkets, and just wear Grey Feather, Dread Skelly and Ice Queen/Quicksilver Mercurial.

Wed, 10/16/2013 - 11:03

Terra-Necro

@OP

I agree to all the changes done to the mad bomber set, except for the addition of Bomb Fuse Length reduction and Bomb Area of Effect increase. The max damage total for mad bomber would put it slightly above the chaos set, as well as with the max ctr, making it the better set in terms of full bombing. Plus, it would encourage more striker bombers.

The issue with bomb aoe is that it would have to be a very miniscule radius increase in order to not make bombs op. As for fuse length, most bombs don't need it since bombers tend to layer bombs on top of each other.

My biggest issue is the volcanic demo having the chance to proc fire upon explosion of a bomb. What if a person using the set was using a shivermist to trap chaos users? The fire proc would break them from the freeze and they could proceed to slaughter said bomber.

Also, bombastic should NOT have weakness to stun. Stun is a bomber's worst nightmare right after shock. Stun slows bomb placement and charging. No one would use bombastic if it had such a weakness. Hell, bombastic is already the least-used bombing set.

Wed, 10/16/2013 - 11:32

Zeddy

Nothing is wrong with Bombastic itself. Bomb CTR needs to be adjusted to be balanced with bomb damage.

Wed, 10/16/2013 - 12:41

Arkate

That post is a contradiction.

Wed, 10/16/2013 - 13:49

Zeddy

@Arkate

Bombastic and Skolver. They have the same amount of normal defence and Bombastic has as much elemental defence as Skolver has piercing. Both provide an 8% damage bonus for their respective weapons. Both provide max freeze resist.

Two things that are identical are, by definition, balanced.

The problem was never that bomb armours didn't provide an adequate amount of bonuses. The problem is that bombs cannot be used without bonuses in the first place. Make bombs viable without CTR just like swords are viable without ASI, and Bombastic will become a desired set in the bomber's arsenal just like that.

Wed, 10/16/2013 - 14:33

Sonosuke

@OP

The only things I see wrong is the AoE UV and the Volcanic's fire inflict chance. Considering that most Bombers place bombs on top of each other and the fact that most use haze bombs, it'll seem a bit OP to other players, especially to Strikers (sword-users, not PvP kind) like me. Also, think of the Shivermist Buster users. Aside from that, everything else seems great.

Wed, 10/16/2013 - 15:58

Khamsin

Radius increase? No... no no no.

Fuse time reduction? Yes plux.

Wed, 10/16/2013 - 16:48

#10

Bluencool

...

Less fuse time is not always a great thing. Same goes for more radius.

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Updating Bombastic and Mad Bomber Demo (again)