This isn't an entire BRING BACK THE SHARD BOMBS debate nor do I want it to turn that way.
A topic was brought up in the arsenal subsection about the Shard Bombs and how the current Shard Bombs are not very usable in their current state. Fehzor goes and quotes Zeddy that "both the previous and the new Shard Bombs should be able to coexist" which is completely true.
My suggestion on this part would be Offensive and Defensive play-styles for the Shard Bombs. The Shard Bombs have always been unique as a standard bomb but a lot may agree that the previous Shard Bombs were somewhat overpowered. Rather than bringing back the original Shard Bombs, the new Shard Bombs give the player the free ability to choose which ability they want to take: Offensive or Defensive.
- The offensive output would change the current Shard Bombs to their old mechanics without changing their damage-type. The offensive output would decrease the damage by about 10% - 20% based on what a good average number is in trade for fuse-time and range.
- The defensive output would remain exactly how the Shard Bombs are right now; a cluster bomb. Their current damage numbers will remain but the only mechanic change would be removing invincitinks.
Both Shard Bombs play a fantastic role in Bomber play-style and both should coexist with each other without ruining the other. I believe this is would provide both a great change to keep both sides happy: It would allow the old shard mechanics exist, allowing the community who miss them to use them once again while still allowing the other community to enjoy the other side and still keep Nick's vision for the cluster-bomb alive.
I was actually about to post something similar. Something like this:
Turn the cluster bomb into a cluster of sticky bombs and to top that off, make them into sticky landmines.
Think of Maskeraith’s first skill: Caustic Quills. They stick onto targets, right? They break and do damage as soon as you hit the mob in question. Why not do the same thing with the shards that come out after the shard bombs’ initial blast? The shards themselves should be sticky bombs or sticky landmines – the former will only happen if a mob gets caught in the initial blast, otherwise, the shards will fly out in their usual range but still a threat: because anything that steps on them will make the shards stick on and go off. There is also an additional mechanic I would like to add: Remote detonation.
I don’t mean the bomber will have the ability to detonate the bomb remotely. Not unless the bomber decides to use a sword, gun, or simply bash that mob with a shield. Remember how Maskeraith’s quills work? What if those shards can go off earlier than their designated fuse time when you hit them? How big of a punch would it be if 2 or 3 shards managed to stick onto a single target through the initial blast and in addition to that if the shards in question came from the Shocking Salt Bomb or Scintillating Sun Shards? The damage and status proc would be tremendous and shard bombs could become a bomber’s new bestie.
In terms of balance, I would say a longer fuse or smaller blast radius to compensate the amount of power it could pack. For the initial blast that is. This means bombers using this would have to get close to make sure the shards stick onto as many targets as possible, that and some smart use of kiting to stick as many shards as possible when dealing with bigger mobs. They are powerful bombs in the hands of a skillful bomber.
So in summary:
Adding a sticky bomb mechanics to the Shard Bombs’ shrapnel along with a remote detonation feature when they stick onto a target that can only go off when someone attacks the target in question. They will either stick from the initial blast or when something steps on them while they are on the ground. This can be balanced out with a longer fuse time or a smaller blast radius. The former would lessen spamming the bomb or the latter forces the bomber to set the bomb at closer to the enemy in order to stick as many shards as possible.
The balance factor is pretty debatable in my opinion but I think one of them can even the bombs out if that’s the case, or you can lend your own ideas on how to balance these type of bombs out if the mechanics were added.